Furthermore
by CapnBrie
Summary: There's a new girl at Wammy's who looks strangely like L, she quickly befriends Matt and Mello. It's a sort of a love triangle between the three teens. Swearing and slight yaoi. Matt x OC, Matt x Mello, Mello x OC. Rated M for gore, drug use and just to be safe!
1. Chapter One: Socialize

**Prologue**

L

I remember the day BB came to my door, covered in blood from head to toe. He was supposed to be watching Eliza. "Where is she?"

He gave me a devilish grin, "At a warehouse in LA."

"What? You left a five year old in a warehouse alone?"

His eyes gleamed, "Oh, but dearest, she's not alone."

"Who's with her?"

"The police are probably there," he said, looking towards the sky.

As a nineteen year old, I was having trouble keeping my temper in check, "What the hell did you do to her, Rue?"

"Nothing," he grinned.

I pushed past him and rushed to the warehouse. It wasn't that hard to find considering the amount of flashing red and blue lights. I stepped out of the car, "Eliza," I called, "Where are you, darling?"

"Right here," a small voice said. I looked down and saw Rue's baby sister, her black hair was matted with what looked like blood and she had streaks of blood and dirt all over her face and clothes.

I knelt down and hugged her tightly, "What did he do to you, Eliza?"

She smiled BB's smile, "Nothing! He was using his hands and teeth to paint everyone red! I wanna be painted red too, Ryu!" she giggled.

She was then put into an insane asylum after the event and BB was taken into custody. She was there for seven years, when she was finally released, I requested they send her to Wammy's House, considering BB had died in jail.

**Chapter 1: Socialize**

Mello

I had five text books open on my desk, trying to take as much information in as I possibly could. I would not let Near beat me again on tomorrow's tests. Snapping off another bit of chocolate, I turned the page, resting my head on my fist. I was almost to the point where I couldn't see straight anymore, but there was no way I was done studying. The door burst open, slamming loudly against the wall. I cringed, but continued to study. "Mello! I did it!" Matt's voice called proudly.

I sighed and spun around on my chair to face Matt, "Did what?"

"Finished my game!"

"That's great," I said, turning back to my text books.

Matt pulled up a chair beside me, "I was kidding, well, sort of, but that's not what I meant."

This time, I was slightly intrigued, but didn't respond.

Matt continued anyway, "So, you know that new girl?"

Trying not to groan, I nodded. Of course I knew her, how could I have not noticed a girl as weird as her?

"Well, I was going through Roger's files and-" he pulled out a thick envelope from under his shirt, "Here is all her information."

I snatched it away from him, pulling out the papers, surprised at what I saw, "Matt, they're all blank."

"What? No they're not."

"Yes they are," I tossed them over to him.

"Fuck," he muttered, picking up the papers, shoving them back into the envelope and stalking off. Finally, I had my peace again, but somehow, that new girl kept creeping back into my mind. I needed to find out who she was.

Eliza

A new beginning, a new start, another chance. I should be happy, shouldn't I? But I couldn't be more terrified. Everywhere I went, I felt like a science experiment, being prodded with their accusing stares. I wanted to hide, but hiding wasn't an option. I couldn't disappoint anyone, I'd show them how great I could be.

I constantly heard people asking questions about me as I passed by, 'What's her real name?', 'Where did she come from?', 'What happened to her family?'. I would like to know myself. Sure, I could always ask Roger, but I was afraid of what I might found out. Did I have any brothers or sisters? What did my parents look like? Another thing that bothered me is that they constantly whispered about how much I looked like L and how I was pretending to be him. Who was this L person? I'd never met him in my life.

Once again, it was Monday, last week I had decided that my Monday schedule was the best. Biology, Chemistry and Physics in the morning and after lunch Earth Sciences and Forensics. I quickly brushed my teeth and tried to fix my messy black hair that everyone always commented on. As usual, I skipped breakfast and headed down to Biology. I was always the first one in the classroom with twenty minutes to spare. I took my seat in the back corner of the room and began studying. After thirty seconds, there was a voice behind me, "And I thought I studied hard," I turned and saw a blonde haired girl standing behind me with a smirk on her face. She grabbed a chair and sat next to me, then stole my book, tilting it so I couldn't see.

I looked up at her, meeting icy blue eyes, "Give it back."

"I'm Mello," she said. Her voice wasn't that of a girls.

I gave her a confused look, but nodded anyway, "May I have my book back now?" I asked, holding out my hand.

I heard a _slap_, "OW! MOTHER FUCKER! MATT I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Mello yelled.

I glanced up at a boy with dark brown hair and orange goggles who was supposedly Matt. He smiled at me, and gave me my book, holding out his hand, "I'm Matt."

I shyly took his hand and shook it, "Eli-er, sorry. I'm Ellen."

He kept his hand in mine, "Nice to meet you, Ellen. Sorry about Mello, he's just mad because Near beat him again."

Oh, well, I guess I had been wrong about Mello being a girl. Then I asked, "Near?"

"The boy who wears all white."

"Oh."

Matt sat across the table from Mello and I. "So, how do you like it here?"

I shrugged, "Everyone keeps saying I look like this L guy. Who is that anyway?"

"L? He's the world's greatest detective and the inspiration of this orphanage. Also, don't worry about what everyone else says, most of us have no social skills, well, except Mello when he's not in a bad mood." Matt stared into space, seeming awkward and antisocial.

"Matt's my best friend, actually, my only friend," Mello interjected, "Anyway, tell me about yourself, your old home and family, what you did in your free time, anything and everything."

I hesitated. When I started to say something, Ms. Isaacson marched into the room and snapped Matt out of his day dreams by yelling, "Matt! You know the rules, gloves off. Now." In all honesty, she was pretty scary.

Matt sighed and stuffed his leather gloves into his back pocket, "Sorry, miss."

The morning dragged on and finally it was lunch time. I was on my way out to the courtyard with a deck of cards in my hands when someone yanked on my shoulder. "How the hell did you do it?" Mello asked, curiosity burning in his voice.

"What are you talking about?"

"You outranked Near! He's been the top of the class ever since he's got here. You scored higher in our morning exams than he did!"

"How is that possible?" I was stunned. _Me_ outdo _Near_? It didn't seem logical.

"I don't know! Its like you're related to L himself!"

"I really, highly doubt that."

"Well, you do look like him."

"Have you even seen him?"

"No, but-"

I turned around and continued walking out to the courtyard, ignoring every word he said. Before I sat next to the large oak tree, I felt something collide with my shoulder, it wasn't exactly gentle either, "Are you even listening?"

I glared at him, "I swear, if you dare touch me one more time, you _will_-" I was distracted by a glint of red and silver dangling from his neck. My eyes trailed down the wooden and silver string of beads and landed on a cross. A rosary. I stared. I knew I had seen that before, but _where_ and _why? _ I just stared at him. What was going on? It seemed so familiar and yet so foreign. I knew for one thing, it was a link to my past, the one I didn't remember.

After lunch Near approached me in my Earth Sciences class, "Congratulations on scoring number one on our morning tests."

I looked down at my shoes, "Oh, I, um, thanks."

"You're going to accomplish great things, Ellen. I hope I will be able to work beside you one day," his voice was emotionless and with that he turned and strolled out the door. Matt sat beside me, taking down notes on his arm.

"You're left handed?" I asked stupidly, left handers were interesting to me for some reason.

He glanced at me, "Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess I am," he laughed and flashed me a winning smile and continued writing notes on his arm. He finished and capped the marker, "By the way, nice job scoring higher than Near!"

I sighed, "Does everyone know?"

Mello appeared and sat on the table top in front of Matt, glaring at me, "I need to talk to you."

"Go ahead," I shrugged, while Matt pushed Mello off the table, "Get your ass out of my face."

"Make me," Mello retorted and with that he fell to the floor with a loud _thud_ and glared up at me as if I was the one who pushed him off, "Not now. La-"

Mello was cut off by a voice, "Ellen, I would like to speak with you in my office."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

I followed Roger to his office in an awkward silence. "This isn't about me scoring higher than Near is it?" I blurted out.

"No, in fact its about your family."

* * *

**Just to clear things up, L is losing his temper because he cares about BB's little sister more than BB does and I mean he had to be a little less calm at some point, y'know? Anywayy, Mello is 14, Matt is 14, and Eliza is 12. Soo, yep. Like? Dislike? Tell me what I could do better, thanks! :3**


	2. Chapter Two: Second Best

**Chapter 2: Second Best**

Mello

After our last class, I dragged Matt upstairs into our room.

"Mel, calm down! What's so important?"

"Ellen! In her first week here she scores higher than Near, something I've been trying for _years_ to do. The way she looks at me is creepy and she's so much like L! I don't know what to do, Matt." I buried my head in my hands.

"Calm down Mello, you don't have to be the best all the time, besides, you're the best to me," I could hear the shit eating grin in his voice.

My head shot up, "I- what?"

He just shrugged and went back to playing his stupid video games.

I bit my lip, "What the hell Matt? Were you just flirting with me?" I could feel my face burning with embarrassment.

"Huh?" he asked, nonchalantly.

"Whatever, Matt, fuck you."

"Name a time and a place and I'm there," he smirked.

I glared at him and stormed out of the room, leaving him to his fucking video games.

Matt

Goddamn. I was getting so sick of Mello crying about how much of a "failure" he was, I just couldn't take it anymore. "Matt," he sobbed when he had finally decided to come back from wherever the hell he went, "I can't fucking do this anymore, why can't I be the number one all the time?"

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked, playing a game of Pokemon on my GameBoy.

"Do something or I'll break that damned game of yours!" he snapped.

That got me up, I hurried out of the room, with my GameBoy safely in my pocket, to Daisy's room. I pounded on the door.

The door was flung open, "Matt!" the bleach blonde squealed.

"Um, hey." I said.

"What brings you here, Matty-kins?"

I hated when she called me that. "Got any booze? Mello is in dire need of it."

Her eyes turned thoughtful, "Anything for you, Matty-kins!" she turned back into her room and reappeared with two large bottles of vodka, "This good?"

I smiled, "Of course it is."

For some reason, three other people were already there when Daisy and I arrived; Xenia, Jessica and Kyle. I didn't care though, Mello needed to get over this, he had me and he would always be my number one. The girls were drunk out of their minds, Kyle had left because he "Didn't want to be around a bunch of drunken idiots". Mello was a little bit more than buzzed and I had taken one sip of that toxic shit. I'd stick to my cigarettes, thank you very much.

"Okay, Matthew," Xenia slurred, "Truth or dare," she giggled.

"Dare!" I declared, knowing there was a stupid grin on my face. Hey, at least I could pretend to be a little drunk.

"Okay," she placed a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing, "I dare you to. . ." she giggled, "Kiss Mello!"

"What?" Mello and I said at the same time.

"You heard me."

I glanced towards Mello shyly, "Go ahead, Matt, its just a dare. It doesn't mean anything." I shrugged, as if I didn't give a fuck, even though every nerve in my body was lit on fire with anxiety. I kissed him gently and the girls giggled and squealed in delight. When I was done I glared over at Xenia, "Happy?" I tried to keep the happiness out of my voice and sound as annoyed as possible. I hoped it worked.

"Ye-es!"

I glanced over to Mello, trying not to smile and I swear I saw him blush. However, that blush was killed by the way he glared at Xenia. Smiling to myself, I thought, _Good, m__y work here is done._

* * *

**Really short chapter, but it was kind of just to establish Matt's feelings towards Mello.**


	3. Chapter Three: Realizations

**Chapter 3: Realizations**

Eliza

"This isn't about me scoring higher than Near is it?" I blurted out.

"No, in fact its about your family."

"My family?" I was confused, how could I talk about something I didn't remember?

"Do you remember Rue?"

The name sounded so familiar, but I couldn't remember who it belonged to, "No."

Roger shook his head, "What about Mihael?"

"Who?"

"Tell me what word comes to your mind after I say specific words."

I nodded, even more confused, didn't they give these tests to insane people?

"Rosary."

"Mello."

"Blood."

"Paint."

"Murder."

"Warehouse."

"Safe."

"Ryu." What? What was Ryu?

"Los Angeles."

"Home."

"Five."

"Fear." Where was this all coming from?

Roger sighed, "Please come in."

The door opened and a man with spiky black hair and deep gray eyes walked in, he seemed so familiar, "Good afternoon, Eliza. Do you know who I am?"

I hesitated, "You're not.. Are you.. L?"

"How did you guess?" he asked slyly.

"Why do you seem so familiar?" I asked.

"I took care of you for the first few years of your life."

"Are you.. My brother?"

"No, dear Eliza, I was a close friend of your brother's, however," he pulled something from his pocket and showed it to me, it was a picture of two black haired men, one with crimson eyes, the other with gray eyes and a black haired slate eyed child at a park. I looked up at L who was about three inches taller than me. "Who are these people?" I whispered.

"Try to figure it out."

I stared at the picture longer, "One is me and one is you, then.. The one with crimson eyes must be my brother?" I questioned, "What's his name?"

"Rue. Or Beyond Birthday. When he treated you like his sister, he was Rue, when he killed people, he was Beyond." I let what he was saying fully sunk in before I said anything. A phone rang, L plucked his phone out of his pocket with his thumb and index finger saying, "Excuse me," before answering it. When he was finished with his conversation, he turned to me, "I'm sorry, Eliza, but I'm afraid our meeting must be cut short. The only other thing I'm going to tell you is that in the asylum you were in, you knew Mello, but please, do not share this with anyone, including Mello. Do you have any questions before I leave?"

My mind was spinning with questions, but one came quickly to the surface, "Just one, where is my brother?"

He looked at me sadly, "Eliza, I'm so sorry, but he's dead." I stared after L as he slouched out of the room.

Somehow, I wound up on my bed in my room with tears flowing freely down my face. My brother was dead and I'd hardly known him and for the time that I _did_ know him, I didn't even remember. There was a knock on my door, wiping the tears away, I stood up and answered the door.

"Hey, Ellen, I was just heading down to dinner and I thought I'd stop by to see if you wanted to come eat with Matt and- Hey, are you crying?" Mello's icy blue eyes looked glazed over from some sort of substance, but I didn't really care at the moment.

I wiped my eyes again, "No."

I knew he wouldn't believe me but it was worth a shot, he stepped into my room, "Ellen, what's wrong? What happened?"

I sighed, there was no point in lying, "I.. I found out who my brother is.."

His eyes went wide, "Who is it? Is it L?"

I laughed lightly and sniffled, "No, some guy named Rue."

"What does he look like?"

"Like.." I felt around my pockets and found the picture L had shown me earlier, I pulled it out and showed it to Mello.

He took it, his face hardening, then he smiled, "Aw, you were such a cute little baby," I glared at him and he stopped, turning serious, "Which is your brother?"

I pointed to him, "That one."

Mello stopped and stared at me, "Beyond Birthday is your brother?"

Matt

Honestly, what was taking Mello so long? Was he just too drunk and got lost or did he just pass out on the way there? I was hungry and sick of waiting so I just went down to dinner without him, if he got mad, I'd just buy him another chocolate bar. Loading up my tray, a blonde haired girl walked up to me, for a moment, I thought she was Mello, but then she spoke. "Hey there, cutie."

I looked at her for a second, she was okay looking, but she was too skinny and wore way too revealing clothes. I felt myself blush, "Um, hey."

She wrapped her arms around my waist, "Where's your friend?"

"Um, u-upstairs, getting Ellen," I stuttered.

"Oh, that's too bad," she purred, "Maybe you can come hang out with me for a bit?"

I shook my head, "N-no thanks. I need to be alone," well, I _did_ have a gym to beat on Pokemon Crystal.

She immediately dropped her hands and winked, "If you change your mind.." she didn't finish and I went to the farthest table. Apparently, she decided to follow me.

"Uh, do you mind?"

"No, not at all."

I sighed and completely ignored her, _Come on, Mels,_ I thought to myself,_ Hurry up and save me from this lunatic._ Pulling out my trusty GameBoy, I flipped it on and headed to the Olivine city gym to battle Jasmine, I'd already given her the medicine for her Pokemon. I instructed my Pokemon between bites of food and eventually won. I smiled to myself and looked around, Ellen and Mello still weren't here, where the hell were they? I let out a breath and stood up to dump my tray.

"Leaving so soon?" said slutty blonde.

"Uh, yeah. I need to go find Mels."

"Ohhh," she said, smirking, "I get it."

"Get what?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

"You're _gay_."

My temper flared and I glared at her through my orange lenses, "I am _not_, I repeat, _not_ gay! I don't know who the hell you think you are but you don't know me. Mello is my best friend, nothing more. Honestly, does Mello look like the gay type to you?" she opened her mouth to say something, but I kept ranting, "If you're going to say shit about me and my friends and assume things that _obviously_ aren't true, stay the fuck away from me! Fuck you, whore." I left her speechless and pale. Angrily I dumped my tray, and I headed upstairs to find Mello. So what if I had kissed Mello, it was a dare, it doesn't count. Sure, I had feelings for him, but there was no way I was going to admit to them. Goddamn, did I hate people. I stopped in our room and dropped off my black and white striped sweatshirt, leaving me in a black video game tee. I then backtracked down the hall to the girl's wing and knocked on Ellen's door impatiently.

"Come in," I heard Ellen call. Well, at least she was okay.

I tried my hardest to not fling the door open. Ellen and Mello were sitting on her bed, she had changed out of her light blue dress into a band tee shirt and dark jeans, "Hey." I said.

She smiled at me, "Hey, Matt. Sorry for not coming down to dinner, we were talking and lost track of the time."

At least he was out of his drunken stupor. Okay, that was an exaggeration. I shrugged, "Its okay."

Mello stared at me, "What happened?"

Scowling, I told them about the slutty blonde at dinner.

Ellen's face went from sympathetic to teasing, "Was she cute?"

I made a face, "Not at all. Anyway, I'm going to try to finished this game, so I can start the one Mels bought me."

Mello smiled at me, "Alright, I'll be up there in a bit. I need to talk to Ellen about the thing I told you earlier."

I nodded and headed out the door, "See you in a bit, Mels," I called over my shoulder.

Eliza

Dang, did Matt have muscles. He always wore long sleeves and I didn't understand why. I heard Mello's voice saying something, but I couldn't understand the words. I stared at the spot where Matt was standing, imagining what it would be like to hug him and feel those perfectly muscled arms around me. Mello's words starting to make sense to me, "Ellen, what are you so distracted by?"

I looked over at him and smirked, "Did you see Matt's muscles?"

Mello glared at me with orbs of perpetually frozen ice, "Yeah, I have," he said coldly and walked out of my room.

I shrugged, not knowing what pissed Mello off so badly and thought about what he said. Was he really that concerned about being number one? Not caring about the answer, I went straight to bed.

I woke up to a soft knock on my door, pulling on some sweatpants, I answered it. A guy was standing in the hallway with a pair of Mario themed pajama pants hanging low on his waist without a shirt. I stared at him, then I recognized who it was, "Matt?" I asked, sleepily.

He just smiled.

"What are you doing here?" I yawned.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go for a walk with me."

"What time is it?"

"Quarter past midnight."

I looked at him, "If we get in trouble, its your fault."

"So you're coming?" he asked hopefully.

"I guess, but put on a shirt"

"I don't suppose you have one I can borrow?"

I went over to my dresser and heard Matt following me. I dug through the drawers, looking for my Gorillaz shirt that was two sizes too big for me. Holding it up to him, I asked, "This good?"

He smiled, "It'll do," he pulled the shirt over his head, it clung to his muscled chest in such an attractive way, I couldn't believe he was human, "Ready to go?"

I nodded and followed him out of the building, somehow escaping without anyone noticing. I followed him into the woods behind the orphanage, "Oh, I see, you're going to kill me, aren't you?" I joked.

He laughed and looked at me, "Depends."

"On?"

"Things."

"Thanks for the in depth explanation."

"Anytime."

We went deeper into the woods and came upon a river, glittering in the moonlight. I gasped at the beauty of it. "Wow," I murmured.

"Pretty, isn't it."

I nodded quickly and looked up into the sky, "Do you always come here?"

"Yeah, when I need to clear my head."

"Why'd you take me with you?"

"I wanted to ask you something."


	4. Chapter Four: Insomnia

**Chapter 4: Insomnia**

Mello

I was having trouble sleeping, not a single way I adjusted my body was comfortable. Too hot with the blankets on, too cold with them off. Letting out a puff of air, I rolled onto my back, throwing my arm over my face. "Matt," I said. No answer, "Matt," I said louder, still no answer, "Matt?" I asked, with more silence to answer me. Frustrated, I threw one of my pillows at him, "Matt, wake up!" and once again, I didn't get a reply. Scowling, I looked towards his bed, only to see the covers peeled back and him missing. What the hell? I never heard him leave. And to add to my problem of Matt leaving, Roger had so _kindly_ taken away all of my chocolate. Now what was I supposed to do? Standing up, I went to Matt's bed and stole one of his pillows, taking it back to my bed and inhaling his scent. Almost instantly, I felt sleep grab me and pull me deep into its murky depths.

Matt

"Why'd you take me with you?"

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away," She said, sitting on a boulder.

"Where were you before you came here?" I asked, even though I already knew.

"I.. I was in an insane asylum for seven years.. Why do you ask?"

I shrugged, "I broke into the Roger's office, needed some information on you and couldn't find anything and I was curious." She was so easy to lie to. "Why were you there?"

She answered my question, despite how much she seemed to be scared. "I.. I don't really remember. It was something about a mass murder I had witnessed when I was five. They thought.. They thought I might have mental problems," She gave a short, uncomfortable laugh.

I nodded, "Which Asylum where you at?"

She shivered and looked down, "St. Erne's Sanitarium."

The same one as Mello, just as I thought. I sat next to her on the boulder, "Was it bad?"

She hung her head, "The screaming and the amount of insanity was terrible. The nurses would beat the children when they misbehaved. It was as if the insanity was contagious."

"Did they ever hurt you?"

She shook her head, "No, there was this boy who I was always around, I don't remember him much, but he was there, we stayed close to each other and sat quiet. Then one day, a nurse dragged him out of the room and I never saw him again."

"That's so terrible."

She shook her head, "No, its fine. Let's go back, Matt."

"Ellen?"

"Yes?"

"I know we're not supposed to tell or ask anyone this because of the Kira case, but you can trust me, I'm not Kira. What's your real name?"

She hesitated, "Eliza Jane. Yours?"

"Mail," I laughed and we headed back to the orphanage.

Mello

_Bang! _I sat upright, terrified, Wammy's was never this loud at night. _Bang! _ "Holy shit," I growled sleepily, rubbing my eyes.

"Mello! Mello! Guess what!"

"The fuck do you want, Matt? It's fucking three in the morning."

"I know, but I know Ellen's name!"

I looked at him in awe, "How?"

"I asked her."

"How can she score higher than Near and be that dumb?" I shook my head, "Never mind, what's her name?"

"Eliza Jane."

_Eliza Jane. _"No way.."

He just smiled at me smugly, as if he already knew what I had just realized. _I had been Eliza's only friend in the past. Maybe now, I could use that to my advantage. But how?_

* * *

**Kind of short chapter, but yeah. Reviews are lovely :3**


	5. Chapter Five: Loneliness

**Chapter 5: Loneliness**

Eliza

A year passed and I became closer friends with Mello and Matt, we did almost everything together and the best part? We all had every single class together. I excelled past Near, but I knew I would never become L's successor, not that I wanted to anyway. Matt taught me how to play video games and Mello showed me the bible, turning me into a Christian. I attempted to teach them how to play guitar, but, as it turns out, I'm not the best of teachers. After eight months of being at Wammy's, on a cold November morning, I found out the closest thing I had to family had died. At least I still had Mello and Matt.

After a long day of school, I was laying on my bed, half alseep, listening to the leaves rustle outside my window when there was a knock on my door, "Come in," I murmured.

The door opened slowly and Matt stepped in, closing the door behind him. I pushed myself up and looked at him. He was wiping his red-rimmed eyes with the back of his hand, "Matt, what's wrong?"

He flopped down on the bed beside me and fresh tears erupted in his eyes and began spilling down his cheeks, "M-Mel-o-o i-is g-g-gone!" He sobbed, "H-he left a-a note a-and i-it s-said he w-was sorry and th-that he'd m-miss me, b-but _he's gone_!"

"Gone where, Matt?"

"That's the th-thing I h-have no idea," he pulled something out of his sweatshirt pocket and handed it to me, "This is for you."

I unfolded the piece of paper, reading it to myself.

_Dear Eliza Jane "Ellen" Ryuzaki Lawliet,_

_Please do not be offended by finding out that you are not_

_one of my successors. I have the best for you in mind. If_

_you would like to help with the Kira case, you are welcomed to._

_By the time that you read this, I am already dead, but please do not_

_forget me and the relationship we once had. If you would like to_

_receive more information on the Kira case, please, present this note_

_to Roger and he will give you everything you need to know._

_Stay safe._

_L_

"What's it say?" Matt sniffled.

"It was from L. Not very important. Tell me what happened, okay?"

He nodded and started to tell his story, "Well, this morning, Mello got called down to Roger's office, I assumed it was because of his awful behavior to Near, he told me he'd see me later, so I went to class. As you know, he wasn't in any of our classes today, so I just thought he was in a lot of trouble. After Latin, I went upstairs to our room and saw it torn apart. Most of Mello's clothes were gone, his rosary, pictures of his mom, all his books, everything," Matt wiped his eyes again, "On my bed, there was a note. It said, here, I'll-I'll sh-show y-you," tears were filling his voice as he tossed over a small piece of paper that was already worn from being folded and unfolded too many times. Carefully, I unfolded it.

_Mail,_

_I'm sorry. I love you, be good._

_Mihael_

I stared at it. Really? I expected more from Mello. He didn't even explain where he was going! I swear, if I ever saw him again, he would pay. I gave Matt a quick hug, "I'm so sorry, Matt. You deserve better." And it was true, he really did deserve better.

Mello

The moment between waking and dreaming, what was it called? Everything is hazy and you don't feel right, you feel as if you're floating on clouds. Where was I anyway? Was I in my room with Matt? Matt. I sat up quickly, making my head spin, and looked around. I was on a plane. A plane heading to LA. Why LA? Because its the last place I remember going with my parents. But this time, I was alone. No mom, no dad, no Matt, absolutely no one. Why was I doing this? I had to prove myself, I had to prove to myself that I was better than Near, I couldn't stand knowing that he was better than me. I glanced out the window, it was still dark. What was I doing? Why didn't I bring Matt with me? I felt a tear slip down my cheek, shaking my head, I told myself _No, he was supposed to see me leaving, it wasn't my fault._

* * *

__**So, yeah. Since its almost freakin' 7 in the morning and I still haven't slept at all, I decided to upload this. Another short chapter, I know. . Oh, by the way, Matt and Mello are both 15 and Eliza is 13 in this chapter.**


	6. Chapter Six: Desperation

**Chapter 6: Desperation**

Matt

Everyday without Mello was hell. Every three-hundred and sixty-five of them. Everyday without hearing his voice or his laugh cut me to the core. Every fucking thing reminded me of him, I could hardly sit in our room without wanting to die, but I had no where else to be. I turned my CD player's volume up, listening to the lyrics.

_Livin' my life in a slow hell_

_Different girl every night at the hotel_

_I ain't seen the sun shine in 3 damn days _

_Been fueling up on cocaine and whisky_

_Wish I had a good girl to miss me_

Tears sprung into my eyes and my heart throbbed with the most terrible pain I have ever felt. I grabbed my lighter and lit up a cigarette that I had smuggled into the orphanage. I inhaled deeply, swearing nothing could ever stop this pain.

_Lord I wonder if I'll ever change my ways__  
__I put your picture away_

There was nothing left of him here, not even a picture, nothing but his empty bed across the room, reminding me of all the nights I would spend talking to him in the darkness of our room when I couldn't sleep.

_Sat down and cried the day__  
__I can't look at you while I'm lyin' next to her__  
__I put your picture away, sat down and cried today__  
__I can't look at you while I'm lyin' next to her_

Sure, I still had Ellen and she helped me a lot, but she wasn't Mello. On the worst days, I would run up to our, I mean, my room and lay on his bed, holding his pillow close to me, trying to fill the empty space in my heart. I would cry and scream and beg the god Mello so strongly believed in to bring him back to me, it never worked. How could "God" be so cruel?

_I called you last night in the hotel  
Everyone knows but they wont tell  
But their half hearted smiles tell me  
Somethin' just ain't right  
I been waitin' on you for a long time  
Fuelin' up on heartaches and cheap wine _

When Ellen would find me, she would hug me close, wipe away my tears and tell me everything would be okay. "Remember," she told me once, "Mello loves you, a lot, and he wouldn't want you crying over him, he'd want you to move on, I promise. Don't worry, Matt, everything will turn out in the end." And I hoped it would, I didn't know how much longer I could go without Mello before drowning myself in a pool of tears.

One day before lunch, I was talking to Ellen, "Hey," I whispered while she was in the middle of her sentence.

"What?" she whispered back.

"Think we could sneak into Roger's office and get a peak at Mello's file?"

She gave me a wary look, "Matt-"

I cut her off, "Do you think we could?"

"Matt," she said, touching my arm, "I know you want to know where Mello is, or even just a picture of him, but I really, really do not think that's a good idea."

"But-"

"Mail," she said seriously, "I care about you and don't want to see you hurting even more. And-"

Ms. Colette glared at us, "Matt, Ellen, stop talking. _Now._"

Ellen and I ducked our heads, "Yes, ma'am."

I ripped out a page in my notebook and wrote:

_**Finish what you were saying.**_

I passed it over to her and she wrote something, passing it over and I read it.

_Matt, I don't want you to get hurt, okay?_

_**How would I get hurt, Ellen?**_

_Please, Matt, for me, don't do it._

_**I'm doing it either way, don't try to stop me. You have two options,**_

_**Help me, or stay out of it.**_

_Fine. I'll help you, but only because I know you'll need it._

_**You know I love you, right?**_

_Yeah, yeah, I know. And, I love you too, I guess._

_**Wanna do this before lunch?**_

_How about after our classes, that way, if you find anything, you won't miss anymore school._

_**Fine.**_

Someone cleared their throat behind us, expecting it to be Ms. Colette, I turned around to apologize, but it was Roger, "Matt, Ellen, please, follow me."

What had we done? Did he see our notes? Once safely inside of Roger's office, he cleared his throat, "Now, I understand that the both of you miss your friend Mello, but its a very good idea to stay away from him and his life, so please, do as you're told, just this once and stay away from him. He is very dangerous."

"He's joined Kira, hasn't he?" Ellen asked almost before Roger had finished his last sentence.

"No," Roger replied, "Just please do not try to make contact with him."

"Yes, sir," Ellen said eagerly. So much for my plan.

"Matt, I've burned all of his files, so please, do not try to look for them, as they are not there."

"Yes, sir." I said glumly.

"Please go back to your rooms, I do not want you to attend anymore classes today."

We turned and left. Ellen went to her room and I went to mine. Once again, I my room was torn up. I was past caring about stupid things like this anymore. "Fuck," I muttered under my breath, instantly reminded of the day Mello left. I laid on my bed, my eyes brimming with hot tears and my chest throbbing with the most pain I had felt in a long time. Why couldn't I just die already? Why must the god Mello believed in and loved so much punish me? I rolled over and buried my face in Mello's old pillow, but was confused at the sound of crinkling paper, sitting up I found a note.

_Mail,_

_I miss you, meet me outside by_

_the river at midnight. I will_

_explain everything. Keep safe,_

_-Mihael_

I balled up the paper and threw it across the room into the mess some asshole created. Why couldn't he ever fucking say things to my face? Now I was just pissed off, all the sadness disappearing. Did he honestly expect a note could make everything better after a year? Well, it couldn't and I wouldn't let it. Mello hurt me and left me here. If I had ever left, I would have taken him with me, or at least explained in person. But having a note from him made everything feel okay, it made me feel relieved and angry and hurt. Why was he doing this to me? Finding a pencil and a piece of paper, I began writing.

**_Dear Mihael "Mello" Keehl,_**

**_Honestly, if you think you can just stop by, trash my room and leave a note telling me to meet you by the river at midnight is going to stop me from hurting, you obviously don't know me. I loved you, Mihael, and what did you do? You went and tore my heart out, leaving me for a year. Every single day was hell, Mello! Everyday. I had to have Ellen come and comfort me because you weren't there. She would never leave me, but you did. I wanted to die every single day that you were gone, there's a huge hole where my heart is and it was only filled by you. You promised me that you'd never leave! And what did you do? You. Left. Me. Mello, I still love you, but I just, I don't know why you would do such a thing! If it weren't for Eliza, I would be dead, you're lucky she's here to help me through everything. Mello, I don't hate you, but you have to understand how betrayed I feel I-_**

My tears were dripping onto the paper, smearing the words together, making them even more unable to be read. I sighed and felt something warm being pressed to my cheek, like a pair of lips, I turned and saw Mello. I gasped, my eyes wide with shock.

"Matt," he whispered, "I'm so sorry. I wanted to take you with me so badly, I'm so, so sorry," he kissed me again, but this time, on my lips. I pulled him into my lap, not being able to pull him close enough to me, his hands ran through my hair as he violently kissed me.

Pulling away, slightly breathless, I looked into his defrosting blue eyes, "Mello, I've missed you so much." I couldn't stop the words coming from my mouth.

"I know." he said and continued kissing me. Honestly, I couldn't tell you how long I've been waiting to feel his soft lips on mine, but it felt like heaven. The way he gently trailed his tongue along my lips, begging me to let him in, which I gladly did. He tasted better than I imagined, sweet and warm and oh so perfect. Having him in my arms made my world complete.

"Hey, Matt. Roger's probably out of his office by now, we could go-" I looked over to where I heard Ellen's voice. Her mouth was partially opened in a surprised way and she was blushing fiercely, "Er, I, um, s-sorry, I-I should have knocked," she backed away and ran into the door, then turned quickly and left. I may have imagined it, but by the look in her eyes, I could have sworn her world had shattered.

Sighing, I tried to stand up, but Mello pushed me back onto my bed, "Matty, please, don't leave."

"Mel, you know I don't want to, but I have to make sure she's okay."

"Why do you care about her so much?" he pouted.

"Because she's like my sister, I'll be right back." Pushing Mello to the side, I stood up and went to Ellen's room. One thing was for sure, I wasn't going to let Mello get off that easy, even though I wanted to. He'd have to make me believe that he truly cared before I trusted him again.

* * *

**Mello's back, over a year had passed. Matt's not sure how to take this and Ellen is just plain confused. By the way, it's December, Mello is almost 17, Matt is 16 and Ellen is 15. The song that Matt was listening to in the beginning was Picture by Kid Rock, it's a freaking amazing song and you should check it out. Anyway, do you think Matt should accept Mello back or just ignore it?**


	7. Chapter Seven: Discoveries

**Chapter 7: Discoveries**

Eliza

What was going on? Mello was back, of course but that didn't explain what was going on in Matt's room. Was Mello gay? Didn't the bible say that was wrong? And Matt, was he gay too? I was so confused and my mind was whirling. What's going on? I felt something wet drip onto my pants, I looked down and saw a perfect circle. I looked for a crack in the ceiling, but there was none. I scowled at the beige wall on the opposite end of my room, where was this moisture coming from? I rested my head in my hands and felt water on them. Was I _crying?_ I didn't think I had feelings for Matt, but maybe I was wrong. Or maybe I had feelings for Mello. No, I could never love someone so heartless. The thoughts in my head wouldn't stop, causing my head to pound with a million questions. Where had Mello even been? And why did he think he could just waltz in here and get Matty back? All I knew was that Roger couldn't find out about this.

Being as frustrated as I was, I dropped to the floor and searched under my bed for my guitar, but instead I found a shoebox. Pulling it out, I cautiously took off the lid, and was surprised to see what was inside. There was a piece of paper, a few pictures of Rue and I and a note book. Examining the piece of paper, I found a note scrawled in red ink;

_Darling, I never left you, I will always be_

_here for you. Please remember me with the_

_happiest of thoughts. I Love you, Eliza_

_Jane Ryuzaki. You will always be my baby sister_

_Yours forever, Rue_

I was shocked. When did this get here and why didn't I notice it before? Putting the note aside, I looked at the pictures of Rue and I, we were always smiling together, no matter rain or shine, cold or hot, we looked like the happiest set of siblings there ever were. Last was the notebook, it was a strange looking thing. I opened it to the front page, a strange feeling of ice in my blood trickled through me as I read the front cover.

**DEATH NOTE**

Death note? What the hell was a Death Note? Shaking my head, I continued to read.

**How to use it**

**I**

**The human whose name is written in this note shall die.**

**The note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.**

**If the cause of death is written within 40seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.**

**If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.**

**After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 4o seconds.**

Why would this be in a box full of stuff from Rue? Then images flashed through my mind. Rue's red eyes, the way he knew everyone's name, how he laughed when he looked at certain people. Why was I remembering all this now? Why did Rue act the way he did? I didn't know, but the same word kept echoing through my mind; _Shinigami._

Near

Not only was I working on the Kira case, I was pretty sure I knew who Kira was. Although I hadn't traveled to Japan yet, I was almost seventy percent sure Light Yagami was Kira, the son of chief Yagami. Something I already knew was that Kira was also the second L, but if Light really was Kira, how did he gain L's trust, something not a single person had ever had? It was almost as if Light and L were friends, but why? Sighing in frustration, I flicked down a domino, sending hundreds down with it almost instantly. "Halle, please clean this mess up."

Mello

I followed Matt out of the room, "Matt! Wait!" I caught his arm, turning him to face me, "I really need to tell you something. Please, just listen to me," I said desperately.

"What?" he asked, clearly not wanting to talk and only wanting to find Ellen.

"I-" I sighed, trying to calm my nerves, "Matty, I. . . I joined a mafia."

He stared at me, clearly stunned, "You what?"

"I joined a. . . a mafia," he started to turn away, but I yanked him back, "No! Matt! Listen, it was the only way I could have lived out there! I had no other choice!"

"Yes you did, Mello," he said bitterly, "You could have came back."

"Its not that easy," I muttered.

"Oh, but leaving your best friend was?"

"Matty, no! Its not like that! I had to work on the Kira case, I have to find him before Near does!" he had to understand, he just did.

"Stop fucking calling me that!" He nearly screamed, "Why the hell did you come back?"

"I need your help, Matt," I was hoping, praying to God that he wouldn't see through my lie, I just needed my best friend back. I needed to have him by my side so badly.

Deep blue eyes were accusing behind orange lenses, "Oh, I get it. You only come back when you need my help. Thanks, _Mels._" There was venom in his voice as his words shook with anger.

"I need a hacker. Could you do that for me, Matty? Hack Near's database and get all the information? Please?"

He stood there, thinking about it, agonizing seconds ticking down as I braced myself for his answer, "Fine, but Ellen is coming with, I don't care what you say."

My emotions soared, but part of me still felt crushed, he didn't trust me and I don't think he ever could again. "Thank you so, so much, Matt!"

He shrugged coldly, "Yeah, whatever."

Eliza

_Shinigami_. What was a shinigami? A mythical creature used for childrens' stories? Blowing a strand of hair out of my face, I stared up at the ceiling. Who cares about that stupid thing anyway, it probably wasn't even real. I should just burn the damn book. Yeah, that's what I would do. I stood up and started digging through my desk drawer, finding what I was looking for. I smiled and put it on the desk top next to a bottle of water. Just as I was about to grab the notebook, I heard voices outside my door. "Ellen?" I heard Matt ask, he sounded angry, something I've never heard from him before.

_Dammit._ I kicked the shoebox back under my bed. "Just a minute!" I called. _Are you sure everything is hidden? _I mentally asked myself, "Yeah, I'm sure," I murmured and went to the door. Matt had a strange look on his face.

"Um, Ellen? Are you okay?"

"What? Yes, of course. I'm fine."

"Oh, okay." He still looked concerned, "Who were you talking to?"

"I wasn't talking to anyone." I saw Mello smirk behind him. "What are you looking at?" I glared at the blond.

He looked away as soon as Matt checked behind him, acting if he hadn't done anything.

"I'm kind of busy, mind coming back later?" Matt seemed angry and confused.

"I, uh. Yeah, sure. Bye."

I slammed the door in his face and dug the notebook back out. I threw it into the metal trash bin beside my bed and struck a match before dropping it in after the book. I watched as the flames ate it, then grabbed the shoe box with the note and photos and dropped them into the growing flame as well. When I was sure the objects were just ashes, I emptied the bottle of water into the trash bin, smiling as I heard the fire sizzle out. There was no way I was going to let myself be connected to a murderous monster, even if he was my brother.

* * *

**So, Matt finds out where Mello has been. Eliza is more upset with the fact that Mello thinks he can get Matt back that easily and she isn't even sure of her own feelings towards either of them. But lucky for Eliza, she takes things on as they come and won't deal with a problem unless it's immediate. Yeah, just a little summary in case you missed one of the important things. :p**

**Anyway, if anyone is wondering why I'm updating this so fast, it's because I already have the entire story finished and I'm adding chapters onto here as I fix them up a bit. I'll post chapter eight tonight, but after that I have no idea when I'll post chapter nine up. It might be Tuesday, might be next week, I have no clue. Enough rambling for now. Thank you to those who have left reviews :3**


	8. Chapter Eight: Voyage

**Chapter 8: Voyage**

Matt

Holy fuck was I confused. Eliza was possibly insane and talked to things that weren't there, Mello kissed me (I enjoyed it, but I would never admit to it), and Mello asked me to join his mafia to hack into Near's database. Was Mello just using me? Could I even forgive him? Would Ellen come with us? Would Mello leave me again? So many questions without any answers. But my biggest concern was that Ellen was going crazy again and I was probably the only one who noticed it.

An hour later I went back to Ellen's room to take her down to dinner. "Ellen?" I asked, knocking on the door.

Not thirty seconds later, the door opened and Ellen gave me her usual glowing smile, "Hey, Matty!" maybe she wasn't going crazy, she didn't even seem upset with what she had seen Mello and me doing earlier.

I smiled back as warmly as I could, "Do you want to go to dinner?"

She cast a look behind her nervously, then returned her gaze to mine, "Okay."

I stepped into her room and gently took her face into my hands, "Eliza," I murmured, "Are you okay? You can trust me."

He eyes flashed to the space behind me as if asking for approval from someone, then her smile returned, "Yeah, I'm totally fine! I just found some pictures of Rue today and I miss having a family is all. You understand."

And I did understand because I missed having my mother around, "Just two more questions," I said.

"Go ahead." she beamed.

"What you saw earlier, does that upset you?"

"No, Matty, it doesn't, if Mello is what makes you happy, then so be it," I tried to figure out if she was lying, but she seemed to be telling the truth.

"And the second, would you like to join Mello's mafia with me?"

Without a second thought she said, "When do we leave?"

"Tonight," Mello said from behind me. How long was he standing there? He was supposed to be back at my room.

I turned to Mello, "Tonight?"

He simply shrugged, "I need to get back before they think I've deserted and hunt me down."

"Understood," Ellen said, grabbing a bag and stuffing things into it, her clothes, a few books, and strangely, a plastic bag of what appeared to be ashes. What was so important about ashes?

It would have been a lie to say I wasn't pissed at Mello. I knew something was going on, Ellen was acting so very strange and seemed to be giving me the cold shoulder.

Mello

I sat on my old bed as Matt packed his things, "Matt, are you upset with me?"

He laughed coldly, "What do you think?"

"Matt, please, forgive me," I begged, "I'm sorry for treating you like this."

"Why did you leave?" he demanded.

"I told you, I had to!"

"You didn't even fucking explain why you were leaving! You left me a fucking note telling me that you were leaving. That's it! I would have fucking told you where I was going if I were to leave!"

"Matt I-"

He threw an old, crumpled scrap of paper at me. I unfolded it, the pen was smudged and fading, making it hard to read, but I recognized my handwriting. A lump formed in my throat. "Matt I'm-"

"You're what? Sorry? Yeah, you've said that a fucking million times Mello. And guess what? I don't believe you. I know you're using me, all you have to do is say it. I could just not help you and say 'Fuck off', but we both know I'm not like that. I'm not some heartless bastard like you."

"Matt-"

"Don't talk to me."

"Matt-"

"I said don't fucking talk to me!" he yelled as he slammed the closet door shut and moved to his desk.

"Fine!" I yelled back and rushed into the hallway, slamming the bedroom door shut with all my might. I slid my back down the door until I hit the floor. I could feel the hot tears forming in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. How could I convince him I truly was sorry?

Eliza

Before I had gone to bed, I had stopped by Daisy's room and gotten a bottle of vodka. I drank about a fifth of the bottle and fell asleep, drunk. At midnight, Mello came to wake me up. My head ached and I still felt a little tipsy. "Are you ready?" he whispered.

"I thought only a kiss from her prince charming would wake a princess up, not a stroke on the cheek." I joked. Not that he could tell, maybe I should betray him like he betrayed Matt.

He gave me a questioning look and tried to help me out of bed. I swatted him away, "I can do it myself." I winced, "Damn its cold," Wrapping my arms around him, I smiled.

"Eliza, love, I'm sorry for waking you up, but we must go."

"Oh," I giggled, something I hardly ever did, "Stealing me away in the night, how romantic."

"Eliza, are you feeling all right?" He asked, extremely concerned, he touched my forehead as if he was checking for fever.

I yawned, breaking him was going to be the most fun I've ever had, "Sorry, Mel, I'm just tired."

"I can tell."

"But that kiss from prince charming would be wonderful."

"Matt's in his room," he said coldly.

"Miheal, I'm not talking about Matt. I'm talking about you."

"I. . ." he trailed off.

I sighed, "Its fine, I was only joking, sort of. Actually, I wasn't"

"Eliza. I do. . . I do love you, you know."

My eyes flickered to him, "What?" I hadn't expected that.

He looked out the window into the starry nighttime, "Its nothing."

"What about Matt?"

"I love him, but in the family way, not the way I love you." Was this just an act?

"But you-"

He was getting impatient, "I had to convince him, Eliza! I need him to hack into Near's database. Don't you see? I'm only using him," he gently touched my face, "I'm bringing you there because I want you to be there, because I love you Eliza Jane." He gently kissed my cheek, "We need to go." Whether this was an act or not, I couldn't tell, so I followed him down the hall back to Matt's room.

Mello

The plane ride to L.A was long and extremely boring, I had stayed awake the entire time while Matt and Eliza were sitting on either side of me. Matt's head was tipped back and his GameBoy was upside down on his chest. His dark brown hair was a mess and his goggles askew as he snored. His sleeping habits had never bothered me in the past, why did I find them so disgusting now? To my left, near the window, was Eliza. She was lightly resting her head on my shoulder and her hand was placed in mine. She honestly looked like an angel as she slept, especially compared to snoring Matt. Eliza had been treating me with care an respect ever since I woke her up last night. I decided to move on and forget Matt, I would make Eliza my girl. She awoke to the soft orange light of morning in Los Angeles when we landed. Yawning, Eliza looked at me, "Morning, Mello. Are we here?"

I nodded, "Yes."

"Were you awake all night?"

"Yeah," I said, trying not to yawn.

"Mello!" she all but yelled, "Why didn't you sleep?"

I shrugged, "Someone needed to keep watch."

She gave me an exasperated sigh, "You should have woken me up."

"But you looked so peaceful."

She scowled, "You could have at least woken up Matt."

"Huh? What? Did I hear my name?" Matt slurred sleepily, bolting upright in his seat, "Mom, I swear I didn't do it!"

I glared at him, "Matt, would you shut up?" I said through gritted teeth.

He scratched the back of his head, whispering, "Sorry."

A female voice came over the intercom, "Passengers, we have now landed in our final stop, please collect all you carry-ons and exit the plane. We hope you enjoy your stay in Los Angeles."

I yanked Matt out of his seat and tossed both his and Eliza's bags into his unready arms, he said something under his breath that sounded like, "Holy hell, chill." Gently, I helped Eliza out of her seat, she still seemed tired. I made a quick phone call to the mafia base, "Send someone out to L.A.X to pick us up. And fast." Eliza was stumbling through the airport as I tried to help her, but to an outsider, she probably seemed drunk. "Eliza, love, would you like to be carried?" I murmured. She vaguely nodded into my shoulder as I lifted her into my arms and received a glare from Matt.

Outside, Rod was waiting for us beside a cherry red modified version of a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 with similar features of a 1968 Plymouth RoadRunner. I heard an audible gasp from Matt. Now, the interesting thing was that even though Rod was the head of the mafia, I still had power over him, "Rod," I said, "Get those bags in the trunk." he did as told and the three of us, Matt, Eliza and I, slid into pale leather interior of the car. Matt was staring at me in a creepy way, "What?" I asked with acid in my voice.

"Mello, I. Want. This. Car!" he said excitedly, seeming to forget any anger he had towards me.

Of course he did. "Well, maybe if you're good, Rod will give it to you," I felt like I was bribing a child here.

Matt was bouncing up and down excitedly, "Really, really, really, really?"

I sighed, "Yes, Matt, now shut the hell up and sit still."

He seemed stunned as to what I told him to do, but he nodded and became a statue.

* * *

**Just so you guys know, when I wrote the beginning of Eliza's section in this chapter, I had/still have no idea how much it takes to get drunk. So, please, _please_ correct me if I am wrong. Anyway, Mello is falling into Eliza's trap. *cheers for Eliza* Um, yeah, this will be that last update of this story for anywhere from two days or a week or so. I'm guessing more towards a week because of the 4th of July, but yeah. Thanks for reading this far! :3**


	9. Chapter Nine: Similar Differences

**Chapter 9: Similar Differences**

Matt

Two things. One, Why was Mello acting like this, rude to me and ever so kind to Eliza? Two, hadn't he kissed me before he asked me to come with him? I should have known, he was only using me. We rolled to a stop in a shady looking part of town, it was mostly warehouses too. Mello opened his door and I followed the suit, stepping out of the car I so badly wanted and into the polluted Los Angeles morning air. I went around to the side of the car where Mello was supporting most of Eliza's weight as he hugged her tightly to his leather clad body. "I can take her if you want," I said, trying to be helpful and holding my arms out. Mello just glared at me with disgust and Ross thrust two bags into my open arms, I tried not to scowl at him, but it was a failed attempt.

Inside of the bunker warehouse thing, where the mafia headquarters were located, I was shown where I would sleep and keep my belongings and a large room full of monitors and computers. I stared in awe, I had died and went to heaven. Mello and Ellen weren't with me anymore, but I honestly didn't care, especially when I was standing in a room like this.

Eliza

Mello led me into a deep crimson colored room and sat me on a bed that was clothed in black satin sheets. Mello was falling into my trap. By the end of this, I hoped he would learn his lesson. I had the chills from not only having my heat source away from me (he was in the corner of the room hanging up his coat), but also from being somewhere that was screaming Mello's personality. It was terrifying.

He began to say something, but was cut off by the ringing coming from his phone, without checking who it was he pressed it to his ear and said "What?" in a extremely bitter voice. His icy blue eyes flashed to my face in concern, then they turned hostile as he listened to the voice on the other end, "Fine. We will talk about this in your office," he said sharply and snapped his phone shut. He glared into space as he grabbed a set of keys and said "Stay here," in a commanding voice before sulking out of the room.

What had made him so upset? Not really caring, I laid back onto his bed, which smelled of chocolate and expensive cologne. Tearing Mello apart was going to be easier than I expected. After a few minutes, I drifted back into sleep.

What felt like an hour later, the door slammed as Mello walked in, looking more pissed off that he did when he left.

"What happened?" I asked in alarm.

He clenched his jaw, "You're not going to like this."

Mello

There were three things that mattered to you when you were in a mafia; sex, money and drugs. But I had a fourth one to add to that list, my girl. She stared at me with wide eyes, "What am I not going to like?" she asked curiously.

How was I supposed to tell her when Rod wanted her to do. Rod really was heartless, making a fourteen year old do something like this. I let out a sigh and looked deeply into her eyes, "Eliza.. Rod wants you to be a prostitute."

Confusion and then rage flashed in her eyes, "What?"

"I'll tell you exactly what he said, 'You didn't tell me that your girl looked that good. You know what she's going to do?' I hadn't answered, but he continued anyway, 'I want her to be a prostitute. She'll screw some possible future clients in the deal and if they pay up when she's finished, then I can trust 'em. If they don't, she can do whatever she likes to them and take their money anyway.' Eliza, I'm so sorry," I whispered, "If I would have known I would have never brought you here. But Eliza, I had to agree, he doesn't negotiate and that's not an understatement. The only other option is to be screwed by every man in the mafia and then be killed after fucking Rod."

She looked at me with cold, stone gray eyes, "Fine. I'll do it." she smiled, "I should be of use anyway. Making money for your mafia is the best I can do. When do I start?"

"Seven, you'll start the night as a stripper, then when Rod finds someone, you'll go with him after you get done with work," I said hoarsely. My poor girl, why had I agreed to bring her here?

Eliza

Mello had came up with my prostitution name. Rue Doll. I made a face when he told me what it would be. "Why?" I asked coldly.

As I was putting on cherry red lipstick, Mello was looking at me with uncertainty. "Because you look like a damn porcelain doll. And Rue is what you will make the men do if they don't pay up."

I looked at him through the bathroom mirror and adjusted my hair, which was extremely curly. He looked wary of the entire plan. "Don't look so worried, I'll be fine." he just looked at the tiled floor and said nothing. Turning around, I gave him a small kiss and smiled, "I'll be fine," I repeated, "I'll see you later." and with that I left, still wondering how easily I could break Mello.

At the strip club where I was now employed, the men all gaped when I walked in and back into the employee lounge. And I saw why when I caught a glimpse of myself in a full length mirror, I didn't even look like myself. I had on the shortest of miniskirts, paired with fishnets and a tight, strapless top. To add to this slutty appearance, I had six inch stilettos on. I better be making good money for this.

After the show, I met with Zakk and handed over all the money that had been stuffed into my panties that would soon be on its way to Rod. Zakk was always quiet, even as he counted up more than one hundred dollars, he then looked at me and led me outside to where a dark SUV was, "Get in with him and I'll follow to make sure you're safe, I will see you in about an hour." that's all he said. I got into the SUV where a young man, probably no older than twenty, was waiting. "Hey there, Doll. Hope you can please me tonight." And I did. I was payed three hundred dollars for one hour, which was an extremely high rate. Then again, when you were dealing with a mafia's prostitute, of course the fee would be high. Zakk drove me back to headquarters where I passed out in my bed, smelling of booze, smoke and semen.

As the days went on, my schedule became routine; sleep until four in the afternoon, shower and get ready to go to the strip club, then strip for hundreds of men, give money to Zakk, have a one night stand, get picked up by Zakk and give him the hefty fee, go back to headquarters, pass out and repeat. I was given a small handgun in case I needed to kill someone, which I did a quarter of the time. I didn't enjoy killing with the gun, but I didn't want the mafia to know I could use my hands as murder weapons.

I was extremely lucky if I ever got to see Matt or Mello once a month. Each time I saw Mello, he was getting harder to reach. However, when our eyes met, his turned a little less cold and the slightest bit caring. Matt, on the other hand always looked exhausted and hurt, even behind his orange tinted goggles. The way he looked at me was with regret and sorrow. I wished I knew how Mello was treating him. I wished I could get my dear Matt out of this horrid place.

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**So, obviously, I have no idea what prostitution rates are. Which is a good thing, I suppose, but I feel it makes my story seem inaccurate and unrealistic. *sigh* Oh well. Anyway, Chapter 10 _might _change the rating from T to M, but I'm not quite sure. It all depends on my mood when I upload it :p So, yeah, reviews are lovely ^_^ Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far :3**


	10. Chapter Ten: Sold

**So, before you read this chapter, I would like you to know that there is gore and drug use in this chapter. I apologize to those who don't want to hear about that sort of stuff, but it's necessary for this story.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Sold**

Eliza

On my seventeenth birthday, which was a Sunday and also my day off, I had been told  
I had to work as a prostitute, but in my three years of the business, this time was different than most. Apparently, Rod had set up a post on Craig's List, selling my body to unknown men. Today was the first trial. Dragging myself out of bed and into the bathroom for a much needed shower, I found a small baggie of a white chalky substance, examining it, I realized what it was; cocaine, just for me.

Matt

I felt horrible for Eliza, not only was she a stripper and prostitute, her body was being sold on the internet. I felt disgusting all over. This was the girl I loved, that Mello was using to make the mafia thrive. L.A. Changed people, it had changed me, but I would never become what Mello has, I would never do something like this to Ellen. I needed to save her, but how?

Around four in the afternoon, I was slacking off my hacking and enjoying a game of Mario Kart on my DS while smoking through a pack of cigarettes. It was strange how I hardly even saw either Eliza or Mello anymore. Almost as if they didn't even care. The large metal door swung open and banged loudly against the wall. "Matt!" an angry Mello yelled and slammed the door shut. _Speak of the devil and the devil will appear,_ I thought to myself.

"What?"

"What are you doing? Actually never mind."

Even though it had been three years since I joined the mafia, I still hadn't forgiven Mello completely, but my anger was depleting and deep down in my heart, he was still my best friend. "I'm busy."

"It's Rue's birthday."

"Who?" then I remembered that that was what the mafia called her, "Oh, yeah, I know. What are we supposed to do about it?"

"Matt, do you think we could sabotage her prostitution?"

"What do you mean?"

"Make it so she doesn't have to."

"Go ahead, if you want to be killed." I said and waved my hand, feeling like we were sitting in our room back at Wammy's instead of a mafia bunker.

He scoffed, "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am, Mels." I realized what I had said after I had said it. I mentally kicked myself. I reluctantly brought my gaze to meet his. His eyes didn't have the harsh quality to them anymore. The icebergs were melting and I saw the Mello I knew, the Mello I had been friends with at Wammy's.

"Matt, did you just-?" he left the unfinished question hang in the air.

I blew out a puff of smoke, "Yeah, I guess I did."

"Do you still hate me?"

I sighed, "Mello, I've never hated you. I hated the fact that you left me, but not you. It hurt a lot, but I had Eliza. You're still my best friend, you always will be."

He smiled a smile that I had so dearly missed, "I miss you, Matty."

"Yeah, Mels, I miss you too." I laughed, "Maybe when all this Kira shit is done we can go back to the way things used to be."

Eliza

After my shower, I toweled dry and examined the baggie of cocaine closer. Had this been left for me? Well, no one else was ever in my bathroom or bedroom, except for me, so I decided to snort some of this stuff. My excuse? I felt like shit, it was my birthday and I was being forced to work. Once I was finished applying my makeup and getting dressed, I set out a line on the counter and snorted it. And holy hell did it hurt, but the high was worth it. Stumbling out of my room and down the hallway, I ran into Matt, "Oh, heeeyy Maattt," I said with a goofy grin, "Don't yooouu look cuuute toodaay."

"Um, Ellen, are you okay?" Is what I think he said.

I playfully hit his chest, "Ooff coourrsse, I neeed tooo go-o. So-o, byye byye, Maatt." I tripped past him and found Zakk who didn't comment on my mental state and just drove me to this what's-his-face's house. I was coming down from my high state when we arrived at this man's house. I waved Zakk off and knocked on the door. A tall, lean man answered and invited me inside, "You must be Rue Doll, a pleasure to meet you, we're going to have a wonderful time tonight," he said with a creepy smile.

When I was finished doing everything he asked me to to pleasure him, I stood up and got dressed, asking for my payment, "I'm sorry," he said, "The only payment you'll be receiving is a funeral," he withdrew a gun, "Goodbye, Rue Doll."

The most enjoyable part of being a prostitute was murdering these people who refused to pay. I very seldom denied my handgun, despite how much I almost always wanted to use my hands and teeth as my weapons, just like my big brother. Glad that the high from the drugs had partially worn off, I cocked my head to the side and smiled real slow, taking extremely small steps towards the man holding a gun, "I think not." and that's when I pounced, sinking my teeth into the soft flesh of his arm, the sweet, rusty taste of blood seeped into my mouth. I smiled down at him, now lying on the floor, "Any last words?" I said sweetly, "No? Well, I've had a lovely time with you tonight, maybe we can do it again sometime," and with that, I ripped out his throat with my teeth, the way I assumed my older brother had, letting the blood pool on the floor. No one would be talking with this man again. By the time I found the money he owed me, I could feel the man's blood drying into a sticky crust on my skin. When Zakk showed up, he said nothing about my appearance, collected the money and took me straight back to the bunker.

My room had several mirrors and I caught sight of myself as I passed by one. Backtracking, I examined myself more closely, my eyes were large and bloodshot from the cocaine earlier, my hair was plastered with dried blood and my white shirt was stained crimson. There were streaks of red smeared across my face, along with bruises on my neck. Suddenly, I was standing in front of a warehouse with dozens of flashing red and blue lights, "Eliza, what did he do to you?" was asked by a man I had once known as L, but the voice.. It didn't match. I was jerked back into my room inside of the mafia base by someone shaking my shoulders, I didn't see anything except the color red staining the pair of blue eyes that were too close to my face. Then, I blacked out.

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**Kind of a serious chapter. At first I wasn't so sure about this chapter, but with some tweaking, I like how it turned out ^_^ Anyway, I thought the Matt/Mello bond moment was kind of cute. But Eliza kind of goes crazy; do you blame the drugs or do you think it was bound to happen?**

**By the way, I'm currently working on Eliza's childhood story, from age seven to twelve-ish. If you would like for me to post it, let me know. :3**

**I'll try to post Chapter 11 up soon too! Thanks again for all the lovely reviews! ^_^**


	11. Chapter Eleven: Savior

**Chapter 11: Savior**

Matt

Here I was, holding a bloodied Ellen in my arms, she wasn't here, "Eliza," I begged, "Please, please speak!" her body went limp in my hold, but she was still breathing, "What happened to you?" I cried. She was no longer Eliza, she was now Rue Doll, a replica of Rue Ryuzaki, of Beyond Birthday. "Eliza!" I yelled desperately, "Where are you? Where is my Eliza?" I was pleading her to come back to me. If I didn't have her, I had no one at all. Mello was gone, my mother was gone and now maybe even Eliza. Tears dripped off my face into her blood matted hair, my heart was aching, it was splitting into a million pieces, the pieces she had glued back together once before. This was all Mello's fault! If he never left, he wouldn't have joined the mafia and Eliza wouldn't have ended up like this! Goddammit! I had to get Eliza out of here before it was too late. I gazed down at her and kissed her bloodied cheek, where streaks of tears had once rolled down. I didn't want her to be Rue Doll, I wanted her to be my Eliza Jane Ryuzaki Lawliet. The girl I was so madly in love with.

Eliza

Beyond the voice that was begging me to talk, there was another one singing to me from the darkness, telling me its okay, that I don't need to answer to anyone, that what I've done is okay. But the begging voice changed the blackness into cloudy gray and the gray turned into a soft white, connecting my body to my mind, my senses returned, first touch, the feel of having gentle hands caressing my face, then scent, all I could smell was the rust of blood. My taste then returned with more salty blood and then my hearing with the sound of an angel crying, it cracked my heart to hear something so bittersweet and painstakingly beautiful. I listened to the angel cry, soft sobs and murmured words that I could hardly understand. I wished I could see this angel, the one that was shattering my heart into pieces with its gentle tears I now felt dripping onto my face. I tried so hard to see the angel, but all I could see was a muted white light. Oh, how I prayed it wouldn't fade back into murky gray. I wanted to reach out and comfort the angel, as unholy as I might be, I wanted that angel to be okay and be joyous like angels were supposed to be. Finally, finally, after so much effort, I saw the hazy shape of my crying angel, the features were coming in slowly, sharpening by the second. I caught sight of his deep chestnut brown hair and attempted to touch it, but my arms didn't want to move, so I looked at his hair in awe, then my gaze fell onto his ocean deep, midnight blue eyes, they were glittering with tears, the ones that were shattering my heart. I put all my effort into touching his face with my bloodied hand, I shakily got it to his cheek as I continued gazing into my angel's eyes. My angel put one of his hands over mine and held it tightly, he gave me a small smile and hugged me closer. What was my angel's name? He held me there for I don't know how long, but my angel was keeping me safe and that's all that mattered. I searched his teary eyes for his name, for something I knew deep in my heart. My thumb stroked over his cheekbone and his name came to my lips in a whisper, "Mail," his breath caught as I said his name, "Angel Mail, I. . ." my voice was weakening and I said the last part in barely a whisper, "I love you."

A new flow of tears cascaded down his already tear stained cheeks, he pulled me to his chest, hugging me so tightly, as if I'd disappear if he were to let go, "Eliza," my Angel Mail murmured, kissing my forehead. It wasn't a romantic kiss, but it was sweet. One that said 'Everything is okay'. Even so, my heart fluttered like a hummingbird's wings. I looked deep into the his pools of blue that were still glistening from old tears as my angel smiled down at me, his eyes making an unspoken promise; _You will always be safe with me_.

Matt

She looked so fragile as she weakly clung to my shirt. Her dark eyes had lost their shine and she look so lost. Was this what being a hooker did to you? Eliza was trying so hard to speak, but not a single sound other than her ragged breathing came through her chapped lips. Her eyes fluttered shut, "Eliza, stay with me, darling," I tried to persuade her.

"I'm here," she said almost inaudibly, grabbing one of my hands, holding it tightly. My poor, sweet bird, my poor broken and bruised dove.

I kissed her cheek, feeling the gritty dried blood scratching against my lips. The door burst open and in came a red faced Mello, complete with the deep scowl his mouth was etched into. He glanced around the room and caught sight of me. He gave me a glare that seemed to penetrate into my very core. Even though we had seemingly made up early that day, I couldn't take him looking at me like that, I finally snapped. "Okay, Mihael! Why the hell do you look at me like that?" I yelled, "Why do you look at me like I'm the most disgusting thing you have ever seen? What did I do?"

Mello's icy blue eyes turned to steel, "You wanna know what you did?" he shouted back, "The day I left was the day you become hers! She stole you from me and you fucking let her! You knew I loved you, Matt!"

"I did no-!" I had never seen him look so hurt before. I hadn't known how he felt about me.

Mello cut me off, "You love her more than you could ever love me and you don't even fucking see it! And then," he said with a rueful laugh, "Oh, and _then_ you had to go and suggest she come here! Here, where only the unholy, the damned and low lives prosper," he shifted his gaze to Eliza's desecrated body lay in my arms, "Look at her, Matt!" he sobbed, "Really look at her! Look at what this damned city has done to her!"

His screaming had started with his feelings for me, then to what had happened to Eliza. The way he switched topics so quickly could have given me whiplash. It made my head spin, why did he tell me now? I loved Eliza, not Mello. Mello left me, something Eliza would never do. Shaking my head, I gazed down at Eliza, seeing her overworked and seared black hair from being curled with heat too many times, hair that once was silky and shiny had now gone brittle and dull. The too dark makeup that was plastered to her face, along with fake eyelashes and smeared cherry lipstick. My eyes trailed down to her neck, where several circular bruises were placed, in which she had attempted to hide with coverup, ranging from fading yellow to inky jet black. She had scratches and scars the covered her arms. This girl wasn't the Eliza I had once known, no, this wasn't Eliza at all, this was Rue Doll.

Looking back to Mello, who now had tears streaming down his pale face, "What do we do, Mello?" I whispered.

"We send her to Near." he said, making a face.

"Near? But why Near?"

"You'll find out," he looked at Eliza again, getting a sad look in his eyes, "Clean her up, it hurts seeing her like this," he turned to walk out, but paused, hand on the doorknob, "By the way, Matt," his voice had a bittersweet quality to it, he sighed, "I.. I'm sorry. For everything." And with that he was gone.

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**I really have no idea what to say about this chapter. Basically, Eliza realizes she's in love with Matt, Matt thinks he might love her, but won't say anything about it. Mello decides to admit to his feelings for Matt and Matt is extremely confused. Uh, yeah.**

**Anyway, for those who care, Chapter one of Eliza's story is now posted. Title of the story is 'Beginnings', so yeah.**


	12. Chapter Twelve: Plan B

**Chapter 12: Plan B**

Mello

I was still surprised at myself for everything I said to Matt when I strolled into Rod's office without knocking, "We need to talk," I said bluntly.

"Then talk," he said, inviting me to sit.

Shutting the door behind me, I sat on the large leather couch in front of his desk, my left leg stretched across the couch, my right on his desk. "Now," I said, taking my sweet time getting comfortable, "We know Near is going to make a move on this case, he's already in Japan and we need the upper hand," Rod's eyes widened slightly in interest, "I was thinking we could send Rue," -it was the only name he knew her by- "to Near to spy on him. They used to be very good friends and I know Near would love to have her help. Also, Rue is attracting too much attention from the people here, meaning she'll get caught for prostitution soon and we can't have another reason for the police to search for us."

Rod stroked his chin, thinking about my plan. I snatched a chocolate bar off his desk (I had left it there earlier) and began nibbling on it, staring him down, waiting for him to agree. "Has she agreed to this?"

"Agreed?" I scoffed, "It was _her_ plan!"

He nodded, "Alright, we'll make arrangements for her to arrive in Japan tomorrow. Is she going alone?"

Dammit_!_ _Well, I was going to have to make the decision, I couldn't keep him waiting, he'd get suspicious._ "Of course. I mean, if one of us went with, it'd seem odd, especially to Near, he'd be on to us and we can't afford him knowing that we're spying on him." _Although he probably already knew._

"Fair enough, she will be to contact us on a regular basis and give us updates, but that nerd of yours needs to keep hacking into the SPK's database so we know she's not keeping anything from us."

I just nodded, even though his referring to Matt as 'that nerd' pissed me off, and bit off a square of my chocolate.

"Go inform her immediately, I do not wish to have her ignorant of these very specific rules."

I got off the couch and left, going directly to Eliza's room. Matt wasn't there, but she was, lying in her bed, her face cleaned of blood and dark makeup, leaving it pale and radiant. Her black hair was tousled, but clean and curl free. She looked more like the fourteen year old Eliza Jane I had known at Wammy's. I slipped out of the room, not wanting to wake her and went to find Matt.

Stepping into the "control room" as Rod called it, I saw Matt anxiously reading something off the computer screen, cigarette dangling from his lips, "Matt-"

"Shh!" he said, waving his hand at me, meaning for me to go away. Instead, I stepped closer and read over his shoulder:

_The second L is Light Yagami, son of the Japanese_

_Task Force director, Soichiro Yagami. That being_

_said, the second L is also a suspect of being_

_Kira, the only suspect._

_In addition, Kira is now known to use a book_

_called the Death Note to kill. The rules are_

_as follows;_

_The human whose name is written in the note_

_shall die._

_The note will not take effect unless the writer_

_has the person's face in their mind when writing_

_his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the_

_same name will not be affected._

_If the cause of death is written within_

_40seconds of writing the person's name,_

_it will happen._

_If the cause of death is not specified,_

_the person will simply die of a_

_heart attack._

_After writing the cause of death,_

_the details of the death should be written_

_in the next 6 minutes and 4o seconds_

_If the owner of the Death Note does not_

_write a name in it for 13 days,_

_consecutively, he or she will die._

_If the Death Note is burned or destroyed,_

_all who have touched it will die._

_This is all that is known about the note,_

_However, the last two rules are_

_thought to be fake, raising the_

_suspicion of Light Yagami as Kira._

_The Japanese Task Force is currently_

_in possession of a Death Note._

I stared at the screen in disbelief, the only thing registering in my mind was, _Get that Death Note away from Near._ I looked at Matt, "Do research on Soichiro Yagami, find out as much as possible," he nodded and set to work, "By the way, Ellen is going to Japan tomorrow to meet with Near."

Matt ignored me, taking a drag from his cigarette. Things were going to turn out after all.

Eliza

I awoke in my softly lit room to the sound of the door shutting, I glanced at my clock,** 3:19**, the red numbers screamed. I swore under my breath, I was going to be late for work. I scrambling out of bed, but got tangled up in the sheets and came crashing down to the floor. Freeing myself from the trap of blankets, I scurried into my bathroom, catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror. It was so strange not having orange on my face, strange not to have smeared cherry red lipstick on or fake lashes falling off my eyelids. My hair looked different, it looked. . ._ normal_. Instead of hairspray hardened curls was soft, straight and messy locks. I cocked my head to the side and stared at the girl in the mirror, was this what I really looked like? I met dull charcoal eyes in the mirror, but there was something that made them seem alive. Did something happen last night? Why was everything so strange? I saw my reflection touch her face with a curious look, she seemed confused too. I already felt as if I had showered, so I slowly walked back into the bedroom and rummaged through my dresser draws, looking for an outfit. Matt came in. A smile spread across his face when he saw me and I couldn't help but smile too, "Hey," he said, "I came by earlier but you were sleeping. Glad to see you conscious."

I laughed, not knowing exactly what he meant, "Yeah, how are you, Matt?" I felt so nervous around him, which was strange, he had always been so easy to be around.

"I'm great," he beamed at me, stepping closer, "What are you doing anyway?"

"Getting ready for work," I said, why didn't he know this?

He shook his head and hugged me tightly, giving me butterflies, "Eliza, you're not a stripper anymore."

"I- what? Why?" Not that I was complaining.

"You're going to go 'spy' on Near for us."

"Why?" I asked again, obviously I was oblivious to the world around me.

"You don't remember last night, do you, Eliza?" he murmured.

"What happened last night?"

He gave me a sorry look and then last night's events played out in my mind, the blood, the man I murdered, the crying and my angel. My angel. . .

"Oh," I said simply and looked up into his ocean blue eyes. They weren't covered by his usual orange goggles today, just like that night nearly five years ago out on the rocks by the river. Those eyes, they were my angel's. "Matt," I blurted out.

"Yes, Eliza?"

"Are you my angel?" It probably sounded childish to him, but I couldn't help it, I needed to know.

"I don't know, am I?"

I pressed my lips to his and felt the world shift back into place, pulling away, I smiled, "You are," I said, more for myself than for him.

"I'm glad," he said with a smile.

After saying my goodbyes to Mello and Matt, I boarded the plane for Japan. Matt had made all the arrangements with Near. I was to pretend to spy on Near for the mafia, but Matt would still hack into the SPK's database to "check" to make sure whether or not what I was telling Rod was true.

I had been in Japan for a week and had not a single doubt in my mind that Light Yagami was Kira. I often listened to the phone conversations the second L and Near had together and I couldn't believe L hadn't sentenced Light to death. Light's motives were easy to see through and I knew Near thought so too.

There was one thing that bothered me, however, in a month, Mello had so kindly captured Soichiro Yagami's daughter, Sayu. Soichiro agreed to hand over the Death Note if Mello promised to give Sayu back unharmed. I hadn't known what had happened to my Death Note, but I honestly didn't care. I continued 'spying' on Near and called Rod every day, explaining everything that Near had managed to find out, but one night, I couldn't seem to get through. It was strange, really, it was the night that Light had decided to track down Mello and retrieve the Death Note that had been traded for Sayu. I tried calling Mello to warn him, but his phone had went straight to voice mail. Giving up, I went to bed, but was woken at three the next morning by Near, "I thought you'd like to know that Soichiro Yagami is dead," he said in his monotonous voice, "Doings of Mello of course. Mello is presumably fine, but we have no way of knowing for sure," and with that he disappeared into the hallway.

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**Eliza is finally out of there! *cheers* Anyway, I doubt she's having fun with Near, but oh well, better than the mafia. She figures things out quickly, no wonder why the kids back at Wammy's thought she was related to L. :P**

**By the way, I tweaked chapter 11 a bit, so you might want to go check that out before you read chapter 13 (I'm really excited about chapter 13!)**

**As for 'Beginnings', I'll add chapter 2 whenever I decide to write it. xD**


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Closer

**Chapter 13: Closer**

Matt

I woke up to my shitty apartment in L.A., the smell of cigarettes and moldy food filled my lungs, making me gag. _Good fucking morning._ Surprisingly, the mafia had let me go live on my own as long as I would keep hacking for them. I agreed, wanting to get the hell out of that place. Slowly, I sat up, my back stiff from sleeping on the couch. From the corner of my eye, I saw a bright light on the coffee table. Furrowing my eyebrows, I saw that it was my phone, more specifically, my phone telling me Mello was calling. I thought he had something important to do today? Shrugging, I answered, "Yeah?"

"Matt," his voice came in a quiet rasp.

"Mello?" I asked, shocked.

"Matt, I-I-"

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"Hurry." he wheezed and the line went dead. I quickly traced his call to find where he was, then hopped in the car the mafia gave me and sped to the outskirts of town. There was a cloud of smoke billowing into the sky from the desert sand. That must be where Mello is. I picked up the speed down the dusty road and quickly reached the source of the smoke. "Damn," I said under my breath and hopped out of the car, cell phone in hand. I glanced at the screen which was telling me the exact point where Mello had called. It looked to be about two hundred feet north west from where I was standing. Pocketing my phone, I took off running in that direction, navigating through the rubble that littered the desert, trying my best to not trip. At last, I reached Mello. My eyes were watering from the smoke and my lungs were burning. I examined him as I tried to catch my breath; there was a metal beam being held up only by two large brick masses, but otherwise trapping Mello, I could see visible minor scrapes and bruises. I couldn't see much of his face due to a gas mask and his singed hair covering it, his leather clothing was melted in some places. _Great,_ I thought, _The one fucking time I don't ask where he's going he goes and blows himself up. What a fucking idiot!_ I pushed the metal beam, trying to get it off of Mello, but it groaned in protest and stayed where is was. I gave it another hard push, but it wouldn't budge. I sighed, guessing I would have to drag him from it, honestly, this was getting to be a lot of work. I bent down and hooked my arms under his and pulled, he easily slid out, but he groaned as the debris scrapped his back. Once he was completely out of underneath the beam, I hoisted him into my arms, earning another groan of pain. Did he seriously think he could make it out of there without getting hurt?

Mello

My head was throbbing, my body ached and the left side of my face was burning. Was I in hell? I tried to sit up, but my muscles protested by throbbing with pain, a hiss escaped my lips. "Hey, lazy ass, you're up." I heard an amused Matt say. I tried to open my eyes, but only one did. A Matt without goggles was gazing down at me, a cigarette dangling from his smirking lips. "Wanna tell me why you tried to blow yourself up?" he asked.

"What the fuck are you-? Oh." I said remembering why I felt like I got hit by a bus.

"Yeah. So, wanna explain?"

"No," I said coldly.

"Well, obviously you're brain isn't too hurt. Same old jerk of a best friend."

"Shut the hell up, Matt." I tried to sit up again, but I couldn't, "Why can't I move?" I growled.

"Probably because you've been laying there for the past seventy two hours."

"Three days?" I exclaimed, "Why the hell didn't you wake me up? Do you know what could have happened?"

He blew out a puff of smoke towards the ceiling, then shrugged, "Hey, when you were semi-conscious, you were screaming, so, I gave you some Nyquil and knocked your ass out. How are you feeling anyway?"

"You knocked me out with Nyquil?" I yelled, or at least tried to, my voice wouldn't go any louder than a normal speaking voice.

"Yep. How are you feeling anyway?"

"Like shit."

"Of course, you _blew yourself up_." He shook his head, "But seriously, how are you feeling? Where does it hurt?"

"My face mostly."

"How much does it hurt? One to ten?"

"Ten being the worst? Seven and three quarters."

"Well, that's good." His face disappeared.

"Where are you going?" I said as loud as I could.

"Calm down, I'll be right back, Cinderella."

Matt had called me that since the day we met and for some reason, I let him. I sighed and waited for him to return. Across the hall I could here water running, it stopped abruptly and a few moments later, the bed sunk down on my left.

"You still awake?" Matt whispered too close to my ear.

I cringed internally, if I had the energy to hit him, I would have. "Yes, asshole."

"Hey, hey, calm down." He said, the weight lifted and he added, "Tell me if this hurts."

"What are you-?" My question was cut off as I felt myself being lifted off the mattress and sharply inhaled, "Fuck!" I hissed.

"Sorry," Matt said. I bit my tongue to stop from screaming and opened my eyes, meeting Matt's. "So, do you want a real bath or a sponge bath?" He grinned. The look on my face must have given away the repulsion I felt because Matt burst out laughing. "I was kidding, I'm just helping you sit upright so I can clean your face easier."

"W-what's wrong with my face?" I stuttered, afraid of what he might say.

His playfulness dried up and he adverted his eyes as he gently put me in a sitting position on the bed, "It's.. Er.. Well.." he sighed, "It got burned in the explosion. It could have been a lot worse though, if you weren't wearing that mask."

I had no comment. My face was ruined.

Matt

I slowly removed the ripped up tee shirt I had used as a makeshift bandage from Mello's wound. He was staring down at his hands with a vacant expression and said nothing. I gently took a cold, wet rag and dabbed at the burn, trying to remove the liquid from the blisters that were still draining, "I'm sorry," I murmured, "I'm trying not to make it hurt." I lifted his singed hair and cleaned the rest of the burn. Afterward, I poured some rubbing alcohol onto a cotton ball to disinfect it. "Okay this is going to hurt." I said as I applied it to his face. His only response was his hands balling into fists with the sheets. While I was waiting for it to dry, I looked at him, "Mello?" He didn't respond, "Mels, are you okay?" still no answer. "Mihael," I said gently in his ear, "Near killed Kira and destroyed all the chocolate in the world."

"What?" he asked, his voice monotone, just like Near's.

"Fuck, Mello, what's wrong?"

He brought his crystal blue eyes slowly to mine, he looked crushed, like his pride and joy was taken away from him. "Matt, look at me."

"I am."

"My face."

"I am, Mihael."

"Tell me what you see." he whispered.

Raising my eyebrows, I studied his face, starting with the lower half. His lips were chapped, but full, pulled downwards in a frown, his nose was slender and slightly pointed, his cheek bones high, I met his eyes and felt an overwhelming pain that was so clear in them.

"Tell me," he demanded in a murmur.

I cocked my head to the side, moving my face closer to his until our foreheads touched and the tips of our noses brushed against each other's. "The only thing I see wrong is that look in your eyes."

"What?"

"Don't look so hurt. I'll always be here, no matter what." I leaned in closer, my heart pounding with nervousness as I realized what I was about to do, but he turned away at the last second. I pulled back abruptly, scratching the back of my head awkwardly while gazing at the dirty wall. "Uh.. Yeah.." I gave a small cough, wanting to get the hell out of there, but too afraid to leave.

Mello sighed, "Matt, just go."

I jumped off the bed and resisted the urge to run out of the room yelling, "Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!" I walked - speed walked- out of the room mumbling something about going to the store. Once safely in my car, I blasted the radio and put as much distance between the apartment and me without going too far. "Congratulations, Matt. You just reached a whole new level of awkward." I muttered to myself.

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**Edit: So, before, there was the whole MattxMello kissing scene going on, but I didn't really like it, so I changed it into a whole awkward mess! The awkward mess fits better anyway. :3**

**So, how do you think this is going to effect Matt and Mello's relationship? Or even Matt and Eliza's relationship for that matter? Tell me what you think. ^_^**


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Moving On

**Chapter 14: Moving On**

Matt

After the day I nearly kissed Mello, one would think things would be extremely awkward between us, but it wasn't. Maybe he had forgotten about the whole thing, which was fine by me. Mello's face healed quickly, leaving a pinking scar on the left side of his face, but hey, it gave him edge.

After a lot of hacking on my part, Mello and I were currently stalking someone we expected to be allies with Kira. Mello was sitting on his motorcycle across the street from the place where our suspect was currently staying. He glanced over and scowled, then turned to me, "Matt," he said in a hushed voice, "Stay here and watch, I'll follow him."

"Okay," I simply replied as any sidekick would. He then took off while watched the building. After awhile, I saw a man I had identified as Mogi leave with a young woman. I quickly dialed Mello, he answered after three rings.

"What?" he asked with intent.

I made a face and leaned against the side of the cafe I was next to, "The person who lives in the room Mogi entered is a young woman. . . Or a child-like woman." I added with uncertainty.

"A woman?" he asked in surprise.

I saw Mogi and the woman pass by and I tried to keep quiet, "Yeah, she looks like she could be Mogi's girlfriend. They went shopping together." I watched her drag Mogi down the street, catching a look at her face, "It might sound weird, but she's pretty cute for a Japanese woman. I don't know how old she is, but I'd say from fifteen to twenty."

There was a long silence, then Mello spoke again, "Seriously, Matt?"

"Yeah, I'm not joking."

He sighed, "Got it. I can't do anything stupid, you start."

"Okay," I replied.

Within the next few days, Mello and I bugged the woman's room, I had surveillance on the building set up and Mello did research on her while listening in to her conversations. I was sitting around in my base, surrounded by computers and equipment when I got a call from Mello, "Matt, how are you doing?"

"Bored out of my mind!" I said with an exasperated sigh, and damn, did I miss Eliza and Mello for that matter. Mello didn't reply and I continued to play my hand held video game, "Nothing at all. They have their food delivered to them by stores, and both Aizawa and another Japanese guy entered awhile ago still haven't come out," I paused to finish killing a creature on my video game, then continued, "Because they haven't came out, I think that this place is their headquarters..." I took a long drag from my cigarette and exhaled, leaning back into my chair, "Anyway, it's too boring to watch something that doesn't move." I could have sworn the sound effects from my game were driving Mello up the wall.

"Stop complaining. It's the same here. Anyway, if L is at your place, it's likely they've moved thinking Aizawa was tailed by the SPK and that their hideout's known. Stay alert, or you might be tricked."

"Then why don't we just swap jobs? Yours would be better, since you can listen to a cute girl." I heard a dial tone, "Mello? Hello?" Sighing, I threw my phone to the side and continued playing my game. I hated being bored.

Eliza

I was dying of boredom. I still hadn't heard from Matt, Mello or Rod and I was gettign to the point that I didn't care anymore. There was nothing to do here and no one to talk to. Sure, I could listen to Near's deductions, but they didn't interest me. What was there to do in Japan anyway? I could go shopping, but with what money? I sighed and sat on the window seat, looking out at the busy streets.

"Ellen seems bored," Near said in that annoyingly blank voice of his.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Near. I appreciate it." I was past being kind now. I wanted to get on with my life.

He seemed to ignore this, "Would you like to do me a favor, Ellen?"

"If it involves buying you more toys, then no."

"Nothing of the sort. Would you mind speaking to Kyomi Takada for me?"

"What do I get out of it?"

"To help this case speed up."

"I've lost interest in this case, Near. I don't want anything to do with it anymore."

"Not even for L?"

I glared at him, why did he have to use that card on me?

* * *

**So, extremely short chapter because it's 3am and I'm being lazy xD But yeah.**

**Thanks to those of you who have reviewed so far. And especially to .cupcakes113 for reviewing this from the start ^_^**

**Anyway, as for my other fanfic, 'Beginnings', I'm having major writer's block on it and I can't think of anywhere that the story could be going, so I may delete it. But I don't know yet. I'm attempting to write chapter 2, but I'm not liking how it's turning out.**

**Aside from that, I shall post chapter 15 as soon as possible :3**


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Clue

_So, just so you know, some of the parts in this chapter are similar to the anime/manga._

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**Chapter 15: Clue**

Near

I was half listening to Halle talk about Light Yagami, it was boring, really. Instead I was working through the case with my finger puppets, trying to figure out who played what role. She was talking about some Hideki Ryuuga hanging out with Misa Amane and Light Yagami, they had all met at a university in June of 2004. Halle said no one had seen Hideki Ryuuga since, it was strange, how he just disappeared and no one had heard of him before. "If he called himself by an alias, then he could get close to Light, without being killed by Kira," I voiced aloud, "Making Misa Amane the second Kira and Hideki Ryuuga the real L." I moved my finger puppets accordingly, "The second Kira could also just get a person's name by looking at them. Misa Amane is now engaged to Light Yagami, which makes complete sense. Light is most likely Kira and it only makes sense for Kira and the second Kira to be together." I looked at my Kira and second Kira finger puppets, all I needed now is evidence. Some of the rules had to be fake, like I had suspected before, I still thought the thirteen day rule and the destruction of the Death Note had to be fake. With those fake rules, it would prove even more that Light Yagami is Kira! I smirked, I just needed evidence.

Eliza

So, Near's plan to speak with Takada hadn't worked. He even admitted that he hadn't expected it to. I had made an appointment to "interview" her and she had agreed, but as soon as I mentioned Kira, she just said, "He's doing a great thing to this world, I hope to meet him one day." Well, it wasn't like I expected her to say, "Oh yes, I know _exactly_ who Kira is and I'll tell you too!" Anyway, it wasn't like I cared, I didn't feel like being someone's pawn anymore. I wanted to live a normal life, get married, have kids, that sort of thing. Well, I guess when your brother was a mass murderer, your life can't be normal. It can't be normal when you lived at Wammy's either. And it most certainly couldn't be normal when you befriend Mello. No, I guess I couldn't live a "normal" life, but I didn't want to be here. I didn't want anything to do with the Kira case.

I sighed and glanced over at Near who drawn in on himself on the floor, a smirk played across his usually emotionless face. "Any new thoughts?" I asked him.

He shared with me his thoughts on who Kira, the second Kira and L were, their relationship, and why L would use an alias. Light Yagami made sense to be Kira, an immature sense of justice worked out perfectly, L and his alias made perfect sense, however, he could have used something more creative that Japan's biggest pop-star. But Misa Amane as the second Kira? It just didn't make sense, she seemed too dumb, too emotional, but I didn't ask Near why, if he thought it made sense, then it made sense.

"But Near," I said, "Where's your evidence?"

His smirk disappeared, "I'm working on that part."

I looked out the window, wishing I would get a call or _something_ from Mello or Matt, I needed to know what was going on. Were they in Japan? In Los Angeles? Had they died? Were they even working together? Had Matt found a new girl? There was a pang in my heart at the last question, but I quickly shook it from my mind. _Don't worry about the what ifs._

A few days later, while watching television, a program came on called "Kira's Kingdom". As I watched a man called "Mikami" was asked to speak. The man named Mikami walked slowly and deliberately to the stage, taking a microphone into his hand. Something was off about him, but I wasn't sure what. He cleared his throat and looked directly into the camera, I quickly switched it to English subtitles, "I appreciate you taking the time to leave your comments and your thoughts and I want to follow your idea and goal," it was like he was speaking directly to Kira himself, it scared me, but I watched the screen eagerly, "I think the shortest way to world peace should be acting under Kira's instruction and direction. Lord Kira, please give me your words."

A chill ran through my spine and I yelled, "Near! Are you watching Sakura?"

"Yes, I'm already on it," I heard him say faintly down the hallway.

"Without Kira's direction," Mikami continued, "Or wor-" the television snapped off. I attempted to turn it back on, but it just wouldn't go, "Fuck!" I nearly yelled, "Turn back on!" I pounded my fist on the TV, trying to get it to turn back on, but it just wouldn't. Giving up, I flopped onto my bed. Mikami had something to do with Kira, he knew him and perhaps was working directly for him.

Matt

I was still continuing my boring surveillance when I saw Mogi and Aizawa outside the building, I instantly called Mello. He quickly answered it, "What what's going on, Matt?"

"Mogi and Aizawa have exited the building. I can't hear what they're talking about, but they have a weird expression that seems quite odd to have when talking outside."

"Right," Mello said, "Anyway, keep an eye on them."

_Like I had a choice._ I watched them continue talking, when Mogi answered a phone call.  
Damn, did I wish I could hear them. When they were finished, they turned and left. How strange.

Near

"Near, this Kiyomi Takada, the announcer of NHN, Japan," Lester said as I played with rubber ducks in a small pool, "She was a classmate of Light Yagami in the University and she had a special relationship with him."

I paused with my hand on a rubber duck, "What do you mean by 'special'?"

"I can't say with certainty, but it seems other classmates thought they were more than just friends. I don't think this happened by chance."

"He has also been friends with Amane since the University," said Gevanni.

Its strange that Kira's spokesperson is Light Yagami's ex-girlfriend. It's impossible for him to use such a person at a time like this. If Light tried to contact Takada, Aizawa would have informed us. What will Yagami do under this situation? I looked up at the screen to Lester, "Commander Lester, can you go approach Takada?"

"I'll try to." he said.

Mello

I was at the Los Angeles airport, and was surprised to see the Japanese woman Matt and I had been following and Mogi. I angrily dialed Matt, "What the hell, Matt? Mogi's in L.A.X."

"Shit! They tricked me. They paid off the deliveryman who carried in the food yesterday and got out with their equipment on the delivery truck," Matt gave a frustrated sigh, "A moment ago, I caught the deliveryman when he came out counting lots of bills joyfully and asked him. I found the room empty and I don't know how many were there. I've been watching through video cameras all the doorways and windows, but they hid themselves cunningly behind the door of the delivery truck," I could hear rage in Matt's voice and then there was a thud of metal, "Damn them," he growled.

I told him not to let his guard down. Biting off a piece of chocolate, I said, "Matt, I'm going to Japan after Mogi. You come later, too."

"Japan? You mean it?" I heard the excitement in his voice, now he could be with his dearest Eliza. The thought of that made me feel sick. Wasn't Matt always supposed to be with me?

"Of course, I'll see you in a week." and with that, I hung up.

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**Yup, chapter 15. There are only a few more chapters left of this story, about three or four . But thank you to everyone who has read this far and left reviews, it means a lot ^_^ Feel free to tell me what you think, thanks!**

_Also, if you have read 'Beginnings', chapter 2 might be posted up soon. I still don't really like it, but I'll stick with it for a couple more chapters to give it a chance._


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Games

**Chapter 16: Games**

Eliza

Now that my TV was broken, I didn't watch the news or "Kira's Kingdom" anymore. Instead, I bought an orange Nintendo DS, well, it wasn't orange when I had bought it, it was white, but I had painted it orange. I played some of the games I knew Matt played, maybe if I ever saw him again, I'd be better than him. I scoffed at the thought, no one's better at video games than Matt. I wandered down to where Near spent most of his time, I noticed the screens full of video images of a hotel room, along with two other people, one I recognized as Takada and the other was.. "Kira," I heard Takada say, but only that, the rest of her sentence was cut off by a hug from Light, very suspicious. I sprawled out on the floor near the corner of the room and continued playing on my DS.

Near glanced over at me, "Picking up on Matt's habits," is all he said and turned his attention back to a house of cards he was building.

Light and Takada would meet almost everyday, but one day, "Kira" had called Takada and the wiretaps were removed, not allowing us to hear the things that were said or see things done. Near was on the verge of solving this case, but there still was no sign of Matt or Mello or anyone from the mafia. In my mind, they were as good as dead.

Near

Ellen, or Eliza rather, was getting on my nerves. She was becoming more and more like Matt and hardly offered her opinion. She's told me countless times how badly she has wanted to leave, but never acts upon it. There was a crazed side to her. When she first got here, I had hardly noticed it, but as the day went by, her actions were beginning to become peculiar. Some days she would scream until she couldn't talk, others she would cry until she couldn't see. Occasionally, Eliza would laugh until she couldn't breathe and pass out. Her mental condition wasn't my business and I had more important things to handle.

I knew it there were only a few more days left of this case. The day I would meet the second L would be the day Kira would be brought to justice. There were several occasions I had offered Mello to help me, but he declined each time. I honestly didn't think he would solve this case. He was too stubborn, irrational, emotional and impulsive. However, Mello had something that I wanted, that I envied. He had charisma. He could get anyone to do what he wanted. I didn't hate Mello, but I did wish I could be like him. I looked up to him, almost as if he were a brother. Everyone stayed away from him because he's heartless, everyone stayed away from me because they thought I was arrogant. I didn't know how to act around people, I didn't know what to do. It's all in the past now, no need to worry about something you can't change.

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**So, you get into Near's head a little bit in this one and you learn that Eliza is going insane (something she doesn't even know is happening).**

**Short chapter, the next few are short also.**

**Enjoy and review!~**


	17. Chapter Seventeen: Caution

**Chapter 17: Caution**

Matt

Mello and I had come up with a brilliant plan to kidnap Takada, which would force Kira to get her and we would kill him, become the heroes and Mello would take over as L. It was late January, the twenty-sixth to be exact. I sat in the apartment on an old, dusty chair, trying to focus on my video games, but not being able to. I was terrified of our plan. Of risking my life. I lit another cigarette, the last of the second pack I had gone through in almost two hours. Mello was next to me in a matching chair. There was a low thud on the coffee table next to me, the sound of solid chocolate on hallow wood. I heard Mello sigh deeply, "Matt?"

I paused my game, but kept my eyes glued to the screen, too afraid to meet his gaze. "Yeah?"

"Are you sure you want to do this?" his voice was quiet, no louder than a whisper, it sounded strained.

"I've told you a thousand times, Mels! If I didn't, I wouldn't be here." I didn't know who I was trying to convince more.

"You're risking your life." he said as if he were talking to a child.

"I know." I tightened my grip on the game console, I could feel the plastic bend with the pressure.

"Matt," he murmured.

This time I looked up and was surprised to see him staring at me. His eyes were contorted with pain and misery. I stood up in front of him, "Are you okay, Mels?"

"No, Matt. I'm not. If you d-d.. If you di... d.." he couldn't seem to get the word out, as if he was choking on it. He gave a frustrated sigh, "If anything happens to you, it's my fault. I could never forgive myself."

I laughed, but I could feel the palms of my hands become dewy with sweat. I didn't want to think about what could happen to me. "Come on, Mels. I won't get hurt. I'll be just fine." I tried to give a convincing grin, but it made the nervous tightness in my chest even worse.

He drew himself up quickly, and the misery in his eyes flashed to anger. He grabbed the front of my shirt and jerked me an inch away from his face. "Don't fucking say that, dumbass!" he snarled. "With that attitude you will get killed!" he squeezed his eyes shut and pushed me back. I stumbled as he shook his head, "I'm sorry, Matt," he whispered, and closed the space between us, his arms wrapping around my shoulders for a hug, "Just be careful, Mail. I can't lose you."

My heart throbbed as I pulled away, "We'd better get going."

He gave a small nod, "Okay."

In the parking lot, we stood face to face, not quite knowing what to say. I stared at my feet, then looked back up at Mello, "Well, this is it."

"Yeah, I guess it is."

"We'll get Kira." My voice lacked the confidence my words needed. He gave me an uneasy look. "You can do it. I'm sure of it."

I caught one last glimpse of his anguish filled face before he put his helmet on, "Thanks, Matt. For everything," his voice was muffled and sounded a million miles away.

"Yeah," I looked at him for what might be the last time and took a deep breath, "Good luck, Mels."

"You too, Matty," he got on his bike, "See you soon."

I nodded and got into my car, pulling out of the parking lot. "I sure hope so," I muttered to myself, a single tear seeping through the bottom of my goggles. I hastily wiped it away, there was no time for tears anymore.

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**This chapter was hard to write. I hope I did okay on showing how much tension is going on between the two of them. If not, please let me know what I could change to make it better.**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated! C:**


	18. Chapter Eighteen: Last Level

**Chapter 18: Last Level**

Matt

I lead Mello to the NHN station in my bright red 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 that Mello had got me from Rod. I was nearing the NHN studio and began to lower my window, getting my smoke grenade cannon ready. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins as I skidded past the studio, fired the smoke grenade, letting Mello get Takada onto his bike. I sped away, trying to get as far away from the crime scene as possible. Somehow, I was followed and I sped down the highway, weaving in and out of vehicles. There was a blockade ahead. Dammit! Taking a drag from my cigarette, I slammed on the brakes, causing my beloved car to go spinning down the road, stopping in the middle of the intersection with nowhere to go. _How many damn bodyguards does one woman need?_ I stepped out of my car with my hands up in surrender, "Hey, c'mon, give me a break. Since when were the Japanese allowed to carry around such big guns?" I'd joked, but no one shifted their guns away from me, "You got me, I'm part of this whole kidnapping incident, that means you'll have a lot of questions to ask. You won't shoot." But they did and I was instantly pumped full of lead. The last thing I knew, I had hit the cement road, my body feeling as if it were tossed into an inferno.

Eliza

It was towards the end of January and I still hadn't seen or heard from Mello or Matt, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that they were dead. I was sitting in the only room with a window in it in the SPK's headquarters, playing with my orange Nintendo DS when I heard the screeching of tires on a paved street, I thought nothing of it, however. But then I heard the gunshots. Pausing my game, I rushed to the window, seeing a bright red car that reminded me of Matt. Then I saw the body, full of blood and adorned with orange goggles. "MATT!" I screamed, rushing into the other room, yelling at the top of my lungs, "Near! Save him! Save Matty for me! Please!" I begged, "Please, Near, save Mail! Hurry!" Near just sat on the floor, watching his train go around the track, "Near." I begged hopelessly.

"Now, Ellen, we can't go around playing God. It's Matt's time to die," he said bluntly.

"Near! Please, please save Matty, I'll leave you alone, we'll stay far away from the Kira case as possible, just please, please save him!"

"Very well," he looked toward two of the SPK members, "Gevanni, Halle, please get our medics to tend to this young man who has been shot by the Japanese police." They scampered off, leaving Near and I alone in the room.

"Thank you, Near," I said and dashed out of the room, urgent to get down to the street where Matty lay. _I won't let you die Matt, I swear._ Out on the street, hundreds of people were leaving the site, not caring about the man dying on the street, hell he could be dead by now anyway. I ran to him, kneeling at his side, touching his face ever so gently. His eyes opened halfway, "Eli-" he tried to say, but was cut off by blood coming up his throat and trickling down his chin.

Tears burned my eyes, "Shh.. Mail, don't say anything, help is coming, I'm not going to let you die," I took his gloved hand in mine and held it tightly, I kissed his cheek gently, "Don't worry, Matty, I'll take care of you," I sobbed uncontrollably. The was a hole in my chest where my heart was supposed to be, it burned and ached and without Mail alive, I don't know what I would do. Someone tried to pull me away from him, but I held onto his hand tightly, not daring letting go of my angel. Angels didn't die, did they?

Mello

While I was driving to my destination to kill Takada, I caught a news story on the small, portable TV in the semi truck. "As for the suspect that was gunned down earlier," said the announcer, "We're still not able to identify him." A picture of Matt's beloved car with hundreds of bullet holes in it flashed on the screen. "Police are tracking the remaining suspect and are currently-" I tuned it out, not wanting to hear the rest of it. _Matt, I never thought you'd be killed... I'm sorry.._ I continued to drive with Takada in the trailer of the semi. At least I was a step ahead of Near.


	19. Chapter Nineteen: Miracle

**Chapter 19: Miracle**

Eliza

I wasn't allowed to see Matt for a week and it was the longest week of my life. I sat outside the door of his room almost all day, whenever a doctor came out, I would beg them to tell me how he was doing and they would reply "Its a fifty-fifty chance of survival for him." Matt had to live, he just had to.

At the end of the week, I was allowed to see him. I crept into the sterile room and in a chair beside his bed. I gently took his hand in mine, feeling the warmth of it. _He's not dead. _I thought to myself. My eyes trailed to his pale face adorned with his orange goggles that never seemed to be removed. His hair was a mess and greasy, but it didn't matter, he still looked like the Matt I knew and loved. Before I was pried away from him, I kissed his cheek, his eyes fluttered open and I was met with a weak smile, "I love you Mail, happy birthday." He opened his mouth as if to say something, but whatever it was, I didn't hear because it was cut off by the door shutting in my face. The doctors let me go and I slid down the wall until I hit the floor. Matt was alive, he can open his eyes and smile, even though just barely.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew was Near gently shaking my shoulder. I looked up and met a pair of dark eyes that seemed to gleam with something so familiar and yet so distant, "Kira is dead, Eliza, the case is solved," he said, then turned and walked down the hallway, disappearing into another room.

Kira was gone, Near had continued L's legacy and Matt was showing good signs of recovery. For once in my life, everything seemed to be looking up.

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**So, final chapter! Thank you so very much for reading my very first fanfic! ^_^**


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